THE 



GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 



LETTER. 



To Rev. Jos. A. Seiss, 

Pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Philadelphia : 
Respected Sir, — Having heard, with much pleasure, your recent 
series of Sabbath Evening Discourses on the Book of Leviticus, and 
believing that we are expressing the wish of many members of our own 
congregation, as well as others, in requesting you to have the same 
published in book form, we would respectfully solicit your kind com- 
pliance with this request ; hoping that, should you deem such publica- 
tion advisable, it may redound to the glory of God in the edification of 
any who will give it the attention it merits. 
Yours, most truly, 

Wm. Musser, 

Chas. H. Baker, 

W. I. Blanchard, 

Wm. W. Walters , 

D. Luther, 

Jno. S. Hetl, 

Daniel S. Grice, 

Chas. E. Blumner, 

Chas. Neff, 



Jr. 



T. L. SCHRACK, 

A. Ruth, 
R. M. Greiner, 
W. M. Heyl, 
Isaac Koons, 
J. W. Miller, 
D. M. Fox, 
Samuel Laird, 
Jno. R. Baker, 



George Barron. 



(") 



THE 



GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS; 



AN EXPOSITION 



OF 



Kjj Wt^ttk litual 



BY 

JOSEPH A/SEISS, D.D., 

AUTHOR OF "LECTURES ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS," "THE LAST TIMES," ETC. 



Jesus of Nazareth, of whom Moses in the Law did write. — John i. 45. 



V 

PHILADELPHIA: 
LINDSAY & BLAKISTON. 

1860. 



<&>* 



ft 

A 



• J ■ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 

JOSEPH A. SEISS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District 

of Pennsylvania. 

STEREOTYPES BY J. FAGAN PRINTED BY COLLINS. 






PREFACE 



A popular exposition of the Levitical ceremonies, with 
their typical import and relations, covers a field comparatively 
unoccupied. The nearest approaches to it are contained in the 
Commentaries of George Bush and A. A. Bonar, from which 
material help has been derived in the preparation of these 
Lectures. 

The design of the author has been, in a connected way, to 
trace the grand features of the Gospel, and the method of 
salvation in Christ Jesus, as- given in the ancient rites fifteen 
hundred years before the Savior came ; and thus to develop 
not only an interesting illustration of the plan of grace from 
figures of God's own choosing, but also an argument for the 
inspiration of the Scriptures and the Divinity of the Christian 
system. 

The Lectures themselves were written a few years ago, and 

publicly delivered in the city of Baltimore during the winter 

of 1857-8. They were subsequently revised, and delivered in 

the city of Philadelphia. The interest manifested on the part 

1* (v) 



VI PREFACE. 

of the large audiences who listened to both the first and second 
delivery of them, and the repeated and urgent solicitations 
made for their publication, have induced the belief that the 
circulation of them in book form would be acceptable to many, 
and do a good work for Christ and his cause. They are here- 
with given to the public, accompanied with the earnest prayer 
that the Divine blessing may attend them, and make them 
useful in the holy cause to which alone they are devoted. 

Philadelphia, November, 1859. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



FIRST LECTURE. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Moses and his Third Book — What is the Gospel? — The many ways in 
which it is presented — Natural Symbols of Christ — The value of Types 
in conveying instruction — Nature and Revelation pages 13-28 



SECOND LECTURE. 

THE BURNT-OFFERING, 

Origin of Sacrifices — Man a religious being — Revelation the assistant of 
Nature — Necessity for a Mediator — The Victim — Its Fate — What it 
availed — Its Freeness for all — The whole picture surveyed for the joy 
of the Saint and the alarm of the Sinner 29-45 



THIRD LECTURE. 

THE MEAT-OFFERING. 

Its relation to the Burnt-offering— Denotes the Sinner's offering of himself 
to the Lord — The best demanded — The oil of Unction— Frankincense 
— Leaven and Honey excluded — Salt demanded — Was Eucharistic in 

its nature — The Mercies of God 46-62 

(vii) 



viii CONTENTS. 

FOURTH LECTURE. 

THE PEACE-OFFERING-. 

Religion a thing of gladness — Our whole Salvation dependant on the 
Blood of Atonement — True Peace requires a full surrender of Self first 
— God must have the Best — The Christian's ground for Joy — Feasts 
on Sacred Food — The subjects of his rejoicing 63-79 

FIFTH LECTURE. 

THE SIN AND TRESPASS-OFFERINGS. 

The Christian in this life still subject to Sins of Infirmity — These linger- 
ing defects are real sins — Their guilt graded by the Rank of the 
Offender — The remedy for them — Sundry lessons 80-97 

SIXTH LECTURE. 

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LAW OF OFFERINGS. 

Division of the Bible into Chapters and Verses — Miscellaneous Observa- 
tions — Gospel Morality — The Personality of religious requirements — 
Faith — The Church 98-116 

SEVENTH LECTURE. 

AARON AND HIS CONSECRATION. 

All religions founded upon Priesthood — Man must have a Mediator — All 
priesthoods sum up in Christ — The Ceremonies by which Aaron was 
consecrated — His Baptism ■ — His Vestments — His Anointing — His 
marking with the Blood of Sacrifice — Our High-priest 117-135 

EIGHTH LECTURE. 

THE CONSECRATION OF AARON'S SONS. 

Two" Orders of Priesthood — Inferior priests the sons of the High-priest — 
Particulars connected with their Consecration — The Consecration itself 
— Baptism — The Robe of Righteousness — The Lord's Supper — The 
Days of Waiting 136-155 



CONTENTS. IX 

NINTH LECTURE. 

AARON IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE. 

Salvation connected with the shedding of blood — The bloody rites of 
Greece and Rome — An argument for the inspiration of the Scriptures 
from their unity on the doctrine of Salvation by blood — Aaron's sacri- 
fice for himself — Recollections of sin — Aaron's duties at the altar — 
Christ officiating at his own Immolation — Was made Sin for us — Aaron's 
entry into the Sanctuary the symbol of Christ's Ascension and investi- 
ture in heaven — His Coming again — Particulars connected with his 
second Advent 156-176 



TENTH LECTURE. 

THE FALL OF NADAB AND ABIHU. 

An Episode — The nature of their Sin — Intemperance — Will-worship — 
Holy fire — Early corruptions of the Gospel — The fate of usurpers and 
corrupters — Natural affection with respect to the Lost — Christ's inter- 
cessions not hindered by Apostasies — He is still the only High-priest 
and Savior 177-196 



ELEVENTH LECTURE. 

THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN. 

Moses a Naturalist — Design of these distinctions in Meats — A system of 
wholesome Dietetics — Separation from the rest of mankind — Training 
in the perception of moral distinctions — A picture of Sin 197-214 



TWELFTH LECTURE. 

BIRTH-SIN AND ITS DEVELOPMENTS. 

Cavils on the doctrine of native Depravity — The doctrine explained — 
Sin a disease — Symbolized by Leprosy — The analogy traced .... 215-233 



X CONTENTS. 

THIRTEENTH LECTURE. 

THE LEPROSY OP GARMENTS. 

Corruption in our surroundings — Government — Domestic relations — 
Business — Education and literature — The Church — How such infec- 
tions are to be treated — Christian Reform 234.-251 



FOURTEENTH LECTURE. 

THE LEPER CLEANSED. 

Cure to precede the cleansing — The two Birds — The Instrument of 
cleansing — The work of the Leper himself — Sacrifice necessary — Seven 
days of waiting required — The final Release 252-269 



FIFTEENTH LECTURE. 

THE POOR — HOUSE LEPROSY— SECRET UNCLEANNESS. 

The Poor. — Modifications for their benefit — More demanded of the Rich. 
House Leprosy. — The Earth infected — Its ultimate cleansing. Secret 
Undeanness. — Involuntary corruption — A good moral and spiritual 
discipline 270-286 



SIXTEENTH LECTURE. 

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 

In the Seventh month — Once a year — For all at once — This day as 
regarded the High-Priest — as regards the Atonement itself — The two 
goats— This day as regarded the People— A day of Penitence and soul- 
sorrow 287-306 



CONTENTS. XI 

SEVENTEENTH LECTURE. 

LAWS FOR HOLY LIVING. 

The sense in which Salvation is altogether of Grace — The sense in which 
it is to be wrought out by Ourselves — What is a holy life — The means 
and elements of it — Keeping in view the blood-shedding of Jesus — 
Reformation of life — The cultivation of pure affections — Conformity to 
the Moral Law — A chapter of Penalties 307-325 

EIGHTEENTH LECTURE. 

PERSONAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE PRIESTS. 

Suggestive of requisites to efficiency in the Gospel ministry — Why the 
priest had to be physically perfect — Why purely mated — Why his 
children should be pure — Why required to be holy — The moral char- 
acter of the Lord Jesus — Why the priest was not to give way to grief 
at the death of relatives — Christ's greatest sympathies not carnal but 
spiritual 326-314 



NINETEENTH LECTURE. 

THE HOLY FESTIVALS. 

Their social, political, and commercial benefits — Their value in a religious 
aspect — Congregational worship — The Passover — The Feast of Un- 
leavened Bread — The first sheaf of Barley harvest — The Feast of 
Weeks or Pentecost, and the two loaves of Wheat harvest — The 
corners and the gleanings — The Feast of Trumpets, or Gospel call — 
The Feast of Tabernacles — The Sabbath 345-365 



TWENTIETH LECTURE. 

THE SANCTUARY AND ITS FURNITURE. 

The three Apartments of the Tabernacle — Types of the three states of 
man in his progress from Condemnation to complete Redemption — The 
Golden Candlesticks — The Shew-bread — Salvation in the Church only 
— True members of the Church have but a veil between them and 
heaven — Shelomith's son 366-383 



Xll 



CONTENTS 



TWENTY-FIRST LECTURE. 

THE SABBATIC YEAR AND THE JUBILEE. 

The stress laid on the number "seven" — The year-Sabbaths- — How the 
people were to be supplied during the Sabbatic years — An argument 
for the Divine legation of Moses — How the truth of the Gospel is 
proven by these ancient laws — The Sabbatic periods in their typical 
signification — The "Jubilee" — Not properly the Gospel dispensation, 
but the final consummation to which the Gospel refers — A Sabbath to 
come — A period of Restitution — Of Release — Of Return home — Of 
Feasting upon the supplies of our years of toil — Conclusion 384-403 



THE 



GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 



FIRST LECTURE. 

INTRODUCTION. 

LEV. CHAP. I. 

Moses was one of those miraculous men, of whom 
there have been but a few. History tells not of another 
like him, unless it be the Savior, whom he so much 
resembled. Christ and he stand out upon the records 
of the past, as two great mountains, broad and high 
— the Alps of the ages — where earth and heaven 
touch ; where the human connects with the divine. 
They head the two great dispensations of God thus 
far. All that the heavenly Father has delivered to 
us as yet, is comprised in the Law and the Gospel ; 
and the one was "given by Moses," and the other 
"came by Jesus Christ." About one-third of the 
Old Testament was written by this remarkable man. 
It was through him that inspiration first broke forth 
in a steady and continued stream. He was, and 
remains, the great Lawgiver and Historian of the 
world. 

2 (13) 



14 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

Leviticus is the third in the order of his inspired 
writings. It is a book which treats of the offices, 
rites, services, and feasts of the Hebrew religion, as 
given in the charge of the priests — the sons of Levi. 
Hence its title, Asuwwov — Leviticus — that is, what 
relates to Levi. The Talnxudists denominated it 
"The Law of the Priests 1 ' — "The Law of the Offerings" 
Either of these titles sufficiently describes it. 

That Moses was really the writer of this book can 
hardly be doubted. If what it contains be true, as 
all those best qualified to judge have never questioned, 
it is impossible to suppose that any but he could 
have written it. And IsTehemiah, Luke, the writer 
of second Chronicles, and other inspired penmen, 
refer to it as a genuine production of him whose 
name it bears, as well as a veritable communication 
from Grocl. And if it be a history at all, it must 
be received as inspired. It contains but little else 
than God's own utterances. It is more entirely made 
up of the very words of the Lord than any other 
book of the Bible. Jehovah himself speaks in every 
chapter, and in almost every verse, whilst Moses 
merely sits by, and hears, and writes, as the amanu- 
ensis of the speaking Lord. 

It has been remarked, however, and not without 
reason, that this book " constitutes a part of the sacred 
canon, less read, and usually accounted less interest- 
ing and important, than almost any other." Many 
regard it as the mere record of an obsolete economy, 
inapplicable to our times, and containing little or 
nothing of practical value to us. How few have ever 
heard a chapter read, or a text taken, from this part 
of Scripture ! How generally is it passed by, even 
by Christians, as of no account ! From such an esti- 



I N T K U u V C T I 15 

mate and treatment of it, I feel constrained to enter 
my dissent. So far from being a mere collection of 
curiosities for the antiquarian, it is a book of im- 
pressive, sublime, evangelical instruction. Here, as 
much as in any portion of Scripture, hath wisdom 
prepared her feast, and crieth : " Come, eat of my 
bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled." 
"What were all these ancient institutes but living 
pictures of the truth as it is in Jesus ? Paul says of 
the Tabernacle and its services, that it " was a irapa^oXy] 

— a parable, illustration, outline, figure — for the time 
then present." In another place, he speaks of "the 
Law" as "having a tfxiav — adumbration, shadozv — of 
good things to come." And elsewhere, referring to 
God's doings in connection with the administrations 
of Moses, he says : " These things were our rutfoi 

— types, patterns, examples.''' Nathaniel says, that 
"Moses in the law did write of Jesus of Nazareth." 
Christ himself says : " Had ye believed Moses, ye 
would have believed me, for he wrote of me." And 
the whole epistle to the Hebrews is one grand argu- 
ment for Christianity, extracted from the rites and 
services of the Levitical economy. It must, there- 
fore, be taken, as the teaching of the New Testa- 
ment, that its outlines and characteristics are con- 
tained in these ancient institutes. The matter may 
be somewhat veiled in type and symbol, but there is 
as much Gospel in Leviticus as in Daniel, Ezekiel, or 
Isaiah. This very obsolete law of the priests and 
offerings, as I hope to make evident in the course of 
these discourses, contains an evangelism as pure and 
divine as that which dropped from apostolic lips, or 
stands written in apostolic records. Christ himself, 
and all his mediatorial doings, from first to last, are 



16 THE wOiSx^L IN LEVITICUS. 



nothing more than the fulfilment and complement 
of the laws herein written. " Think not," said he, 
" that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets : 
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." It is indeed 
astonishing, when we come to consider it, and a 
strong proof of the divine source of the Bible, how 
completely- Christ is woven into its entire texture. 
Open the book anywhere, and we are sure to find 
something of Jesus. He is its Alpha and Omega ; 
its beginning and its ending; its first and its last. 
"In the Law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in 
the Psalms," it is "written concerning him." Nor 
is it saying too much for this third book of Moses, 
to call it The Gospel according to Leviticus, just as the 
third book of the New Testament is called " The 
Gospel according to Luke." The one tells of Jesus 
and redemption through him, as well as the other ; 
and if we do not find it full and overflowing with 
clear and beautiful evangelical instruction, it is be- 
cause we know not how to read it. 

What is the Gospel ? Not, what is the specific 
meaning of the word here or there ; but, generalizing 
its various applications, and combining its several 
shades of signification into one view, What is the 
Gospel ? Is it a particular set form of words ? Cer- 
tainly not. If it were, no man could preach it, except 
by the mere repetition of those words. Then, what 
is it ? To answer briefly, I would say, It is God's 
proclamation of a plan of mercy to sinners. It is the 
divine revelation of grace to fallen man. It is the 
publication of forgiveness and eternal life through 
the mediation of Jesus Christ. Hence, whatever 
announces Christ as the Eedeemer, and holds forth 
forgiveness and salvation through him, comprises 



nt 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

and proclaims the Gospel. We call that the Gospel 
which narrates the Savior's history, simply and only 
because it is an account of the Redeemer. We apply 
the same term to the peculiar doctrines, ordinances 
and precepts which constitute the Christian system, 
for the reason that in these Christ is proposed and 
given to the believing and obedient in all his saving- 
efficacy. The same word is used to denote the 
scriptural promises of forgiveness and mercy, in con- 
trast with the exactions of the law; but all these 
various applications are easily resolvable into the one 
great, original idea of Grod in Christ reconciling the 
world unto himself. 

Man is fallen and depraved. It is upon this as- 
sumption that the Gospel starts, and takes its pecu- 
liarities as the Gospel. " The son of man is come to 
seek and to save that which was lost." I am not 
among those who think that nothing noble, generous, 
or lovely, remains in humanity. Man, though fallen, 
retains a greatness even in his ruin. His nature has 
been terribly marred and defaced, but there is still 
some remaining excellence. Dig among the ruins 
of those noble cities which the foot of time has 
trodden down, and you will find there outlines of 
streets, and edifices, and columns, and statues, and 
many traces of former greatness. Search in like 
manner into sunken humanity, and you will also find 
many a mark and relic of original magnificence and 
glory. But, Babylon in ruins, is no longer the 
" great Babylon" of the Assyrians' pride; and no 
man is now the exalted creature who ate of Eden's 
fruits, and stood as lord of earth amid the beauties 
and harmonies of Paradise. There has been a fall 
— a dreadful degeneration. All history declares it. 



18 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

All consciousness bears witness to it. And he has 
not expressed himself too strongly, who says, " a man 
must be a fool, nay, a stock, or a stone, not to believe 
it. He has no eyes, he has no senses, he has no per- 
ceptions, if he refuses to believe it." And in this 
fallen, degenerate condition, man is lost. Darkness, 
which he cannot dissipate, is around him. Stains 
of guilt, which he cannot wash out, are upon him. 
The curse of condemnation stands written against 
him, beyond his power to expunge it, or check it off. 
A foul disease is fretting through all his nature, 
against which there is no earthly antidote or remedy. 
Death and decay are on him, and cling to him as 
part of himself, and he cannot cut loose from them. 
Eternity itself, so far as his own strength goes, can 
bring him only sorrow and despair. But God comes 
to us in this desperate estate, and proffers, through 
Christ, an eternal deliverance. For darkness, he 
proposes to give us light. For sin, he holds out to 
us the means of an effectual cleansing. For condem- 
nation, he tenders to us a present and full reprieve. 
For all our ailments, he engages to work for us an 
abiding cure. And for our corruption and death, he 
offers us glory and immortality. In one word, he 
proposes to save us. Kestoration — complete restora- 
tion — is now proclaimed from the heavens as the 
portion of those who will receive it through Jesus 
Christ. It is a blessed proclamation. It is, indeed, 
Good news — glad tidings of great joy. And this procla- 
mation is the Gospel. 

Turning, then, to this Third Book of Moses, called 
Leviticus, what do we find to be its contents ? Here 
and there we have a few records simply and purely 
historical ; but what is the great burden and scope 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

of the book? From beginning to end, everything 
bears the one pervading purpose, of showing the 
transgressor wherewithal he might come before the 
Lord, and obtain justification and peace. It is a great 
system of salvation by priestly mediation and bloody 
sacrifices. Apart from any relation to the New Tes- 
tament, the prescriptions here given dwindle down, 
to a burdensome round of uninviting and unmeaning 
ceremonies, unworthy of so high an origin, or so 
solemn a method of inculcation. "We are, therefore, 
driven to take them as connected with the one and 
only system of redemption, which is through Christ, 
and to reverence and study them as God's own picto- 
rial illustrations of the Gospel, as a system of prac- 
tical hieroglyphics of his plan of salvation through 
the blood of Jesus. 

Eow, God has taken many ways, and employed 
many methods, of teaching men his Gospel, and of 
impressing it upon their understandings and their 
hearts. Sometimes he presents it in plain and 
simple narratives, or in easy parables, and then 
again in epistles of classic elegance, filled with close 
analysis and logical profoundness. One apostle is 
sent as the apostle of love, whose words melt gently 
in upon the heart, fragrant as scented dews ; and an- 
other is sent as the apostle of faith, with his great 
arguments deep laid in the truth of God. The pro- 
phets are made poets also, to attract and move us the 
more by the smoothness of their words and the bril- 
liancy of their inspirations. Moses, though else so 
calm and majestic, now and then breaks out in ex- 
alted song. David takes his harp, and utters himself 
in sweetest minstrelsy. Isaiah stands up to prophesy, 
and his lips are touched with a coal from the celestial 



20 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

altar, and his words carry us into the highest heavens 
of poetic sublimity. Jeremiah comes forward in 
song, mighty as " a lion from the swellings of Jor- 
dan, coming up against the habitations of the strong." 
And a whole constellation of lesser prophets pour 
forth the light of heaven in scintillating streams of 
melody and poesy. Gorgeous symbolization has been 
called into requisition. We look on Ezekiel's visions 
and seem to be lifted by the hair into the midst of 
the scenes of God's mysterious doings. Daniel's 
golden-headed image, and beasts of power, and stone 
of glory, move before us in significant grandeur. The 
skies themselves part, and the very secrets of eternity 
open upon us, in the Apocalypse of John. And even 
visible nature around us has been transmuted into a 
living array of pictures and emblems of Jesus and 
his saving grace, We lift up our eyes in the daytime, 
and encounter the bright, glad, and golden beams 
that pour forever from the great orb of heaven. It 
is the symbol of that bright " Sun of Righteousness," 
whose rays are the light and healing of earth, and 
the joy of eternity. We go out with the Psalmist to 
consider the glories of the starry night; and the 
brightest of all those glittering and fiery gems — the 
one which heralds the morning and ushers in the 
day, — is the appointed picture of that " bright and 
morning star" who shines with ever cheering radiance 
in the eyes of Zion's watchmen, and gives tidings of 
the promised approaching day of Israel. We walk 
into the fields among the flocks and lowing herds ; 
and that meek-eyed lamb, reposing on the clean 
sunny bank, is to us a remembrancer of that un- 
spotted "Lamb of God which taketh away the sin 
of the world." We take our stand by the gushing 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

spring on the mountain side, and gaze upon the glad 
waters as they leap forth in their crystal purity to 
cool the thirsty lip, and refresh the parched ground, 
and wash away the dust from the worn traveller. It 
is the joyous symbol of that " fountain opened to the 
house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for 
sin and un cleanness." "We turn our eyes to the tall 
cedar, that pride and glory of the mountain, stretch- 
ing up its great limbs into the blue sky; and we 
see there an emblem of that " Branch of the Lord, 
beautiful and glorious," whose name is, " The Lord 
our Righteousness." We gaze round on that craggy 
precipice, extending its bald brow to the lightnings 
and the storms, on whose top the young eaglets sleep 
in the warm sunshine, and under whose broad sha- 
dow the shepherd reposes in safety with his peaceful 
flocks. It is earth's grandest token of that " Rock 
of Ages," on which frail man finds his salvation, and 
in whose cool shade this world's weary ones are 
blessed. We contemplate that great root of yon 
mountain oak, which has penetrated the fissure of 
the rock, and opened its way down to drink up the 
moisture from the heart of the hill. It is God's em- 
blem of that "Root of David" which hath prevailed 
to open the seals, and forced a way to the fountain 
and waters of life. We listen to the roar of the great 
lion in the thicket, before whom all the beasts of the 
field crouch or fly in terror. It is the symbol of that 
"Lion of the Tribe of Judah," who has sent con- 
sternation and dismay among all the hosts of hell, 
and raised the fallen sinner from his " dead level" to 
his feet again. We look upon the flowers as they 
spread open their beauties to the sky, and pour from 
their thousand censers their incense offerings to their 



22 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 



. a !!> 



God; and that lily there, the most fragrant of 
and that rose yonder, the most deeply colored of all, 
are meant to tell of "the Rose of Sharon and the 
Lily of the valleys," which God has planted in this 
bleak world to gladden the eye and revive the heart 
of drooping man, and to be a soothing balm to his 
many, many wounds. We sit down in the arbor, and 
admire the vine which covers it with robes of green, 
and has hung it with fragrant clusters ; and that too 
is one of nature's ten thousand images of Jesus and 
his grace ; for he is " the true Vine," and his Father 
is the husbandman. The visible world scarcely con- 
tains one object of glory, beauty, or good, which God 
has not in some way appropriated as emblematic of his 
Son Jesus Christ, and of his mercy to sinners through 
him. He has even made prophecy of history, and 
written his purposes of grace and good in the very 
acts and lives of men and nations. And here, in this 
third book of Moses, in the ceremonial system which 
it records, there is still another plan adopted to set 
forth the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. "We 
have here a system of life-pictures and practical alle- 
gorical types, in which the Gospel receives a sort of 
living pictorial incarnation. It treats of the slaying 
of goats and calves, of meats and drinks, and divers 
washings, all ordained of God, that in these things 
men might have a tangible exhibition of the offering 
of Him who was " delivered for our offences, and 
raised again for our justification." It presents a so- 
lemn ritual of blood and butchery, " imposed until 
the time of reformation," but meant to be " a figure ," 
complete and lively, of those better things which 
have since been revealed in Jesus Christ. It is only 
another of those "divers manners" in which God 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

has chosen to deliver to us an idea of the necessity, 
nature, application and effects of " the common sal- 
vation" of which the prophets prophesied, and the 
apostles wrote. And viewed in this light, so far from 
being repulsive and profitless, this book of Leviticus 
at once gathers around it a most attractive interest, 
and becomes invested with a radiance, which must 
needs enlist, edify and inspire every attentive Chris- 
tian heart. It is a torch given of Grod, and lit with 
sacred fires, to illuminate redemption's framework, 
and light us into those profounds of grace, of which 
the prophets searched and inquired, when they testi- 
fied beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the 
glory that should follow. 

But some may ask, Why go back to these ancient 
types, when we have everything so plain in the 
writings of evangelists and prophets ? Why stop to 
contemplate a picture when we have the original? 
Why linger in the twilight when we have the perfect 
day ? Many reasons might be given. Among other 
things, I may say, that a good part of the light which 
makes up the brilliancy of gospel day, comes through 
these ancient institutes. Had it not been for them, 
gradually preparing the eye of man for intenser light, 
and opening his mind for moral and spiritual ideas, 
we would have had no day at all. The very language 
of evangelists and apostles, which we now think so 
plain, is all derived and moulded from these ancient 
rites, and proceeds so fundamentally upon ideas 
generated by them, that, without them, it would be 
exceedingly obscure, and, in some things, wholly 
unintelligible. These typical rites thus hold a place 
in the economy of revelation, from which they can- 
not be spared. " Whatsoever things were written 



24 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 






aforetime, were written for our learning, that we 
through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, 
might have hope." The New Testament is necessary 
to a right understanding of them, but equally neces- 
sary are they to a right understanding of the New 
Testament. And instead of putting them aside, as 
we do the toys of childhood, it is our duty to God 
and to ourselves, and ought to be our delight, to give 
them a share of our attention, and to do what we 
can to trace out their glorious meaning. 

And, then, who does not know the increased power 
of pictorial illustration ? Who has not felt the addi- 
tional force imparted to truth by its being clothed 
and set forth in well-chosen images ? "Who has not 
again and again been more touched, moved and con- 
vinced by the simple parables of Jesus, than by all 
the eloquence and massive reasonings of Paul ? A 
thing is not necessarily obscure and difficult because 
it is typical or figurative. On the contrary, there is 
nothing which so interests and impresses us. Pic- 
tures and images help to simplify truth, and open 
the mind to receive it with more facility, and write 
it with greater vividness upon the heart. As Tyn- 
dale says, " Similitudes have more virtue and power 
with them than bare words, and lead a man's under- 
standing further into the pith and marrow and 
spiritual understanding of the thing, than all the 
words that can be imagined. . . There is not a better, 
a more vehement, or mightier thing," says he, "to 
make a man understand with all, than an allegory ; 
for allegories make a man quick-witted, and print 
wisdom in him, and make it to abide, when bare 
words go but in at the one ear and out at the other." 
Only give to people something in the shape of pic- 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

tures, parables, allegories, fables, fictions, stories, and 
you are much more likely to arrest their attention 
and reach their hearts, than by any other form of 
address ; as if there were something in the very 
nature of man to which such forms of communicating 
truth are better adapted than any other. There is, 
perhaps, not another book in the English language, 
the Bible excepted, so popular, or so useful, as Bun- 
yan's " Pilgrim's Progress;" and yet, what is it but 
a sort of typical story, allegory, or dramatic picture, 
of great truths which underlie it ? There is nothing 
more natural than types. Nature itself is but a sys- 
tem of types — the translation of what is invisible 
and divine into material forms. The visible is not 
the real, but only a shadowing forth — a type of it. 
And in all the material world, there are ten thousand 
"links and ties and silent harmonies" connecting it 
with the spiritual and the true, making one the illus- 
tration of the other, and rendering both beautiful 
and welcome to him who loveth instruction. Not 
without good reason, therefore, has Tauler, of the 
olden time, said, " There be some men who take 
leave of types and symbols too soon, before they 
have drawn out all the truth and instruction con- 
tained therein." Let us not be among them. 

There is one thought to which I will refer, and 
with that I will close this introductory lecture. It is 
generally agreed that the delivery and arrangement 
of this Levitical system, as contained in this book, 
occupied about one month. Forty days had been 
previously occupied in directing Moses how to make 
the tabernacle ; here, at least thirty more are added 
in directing him how to arrange its services ; and yet 
only six days were employed upon the great work of 
3 



26 THE GOSPEL IN LEVIT I C U S 



creation. This, at first, may seem a little strange 
and yet it is suggestive of important tiuth. Redemp 
tion is the most glorious of God's works, and 
deserving of the most attention. It is of more con- 
sequence for man to have his sins forgiven and his 
soul saved, than to have a fine world to die in, and be 
lost forever. It is more important for us to under- 
stand the laws of grace than the laws of nature. 
God has devoted only six days, and two chapters of 
his word to the one, whilst he has devoted a multi- 
tude of days and more than fifty, or five hundred 
chapters, to the other. 

Philosophers of this world tell us to study nature 
— study nature ; and praise the knowledge of nature 
as the perfection of all knowledge. They seem to 
think that if we only understand nature well, and 
obey her teachings, we have about enough for all the 
purposes of life, peace and piety. But, if this were 
really so, I take it that God would have said more 
about nature in his word. Instead of confining his 
account of the heavens and the earth, and all that in 
them is, to two chapters, I would look to see volumes 
freighted with it, and would expect Genesis to be 
geology, and Exodus natural history, and Leviticus 
medicine, and Numbers mathematics, and Deuteron- 
omy chemistry, and Joshua psychology, and Judges 
natural law. I certainly could not reconcile it 
with the fact that he has suffered those great works 
of Solomon to perish, in which "he speaks of trees, 
from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even unto the 
hyssop that springeth out of the wall, and of fowl, 
and of creeping things, and of fishes." 

Now, it is useful to study nature, and a grand thing 
to understand nature. It is a dignified and a ser- 



?- 

13 



INTRODUCTION. 27 

viceable work to survey her elements, shapes, motions, 
and adaptations ; to examine the springs, and balance- 
wheels, and cogs, and bands, and pins, and jewels, 
and sublime mechanism, and operations, of the uni- 
verse, so wonderfully set in order by God's wisdom, 
and kept in everlasting activity by his almighty 
power. It helps to expand our nature, to exalt our 
conceptions of the eternal Contriver, and disposes us 
to reverent awe, and aids us in many of the outward 
relations and duties of life. But what can it do for 
those deeper, urgent, moral, and spiritual wants of 
man, to which the Gospel addresses itself? How 
vastly better is the knowledge of grace and salva- 
tion ! God meant that we should study nature, and 
know something of nature, and look through nature 
up to nature's God. Nature is the grand hand- 
writing of his power, by which he has spelled out to 
us the letters that compose his ineffable name ; and 
it is his will that we should read that record, and 
trace his glory in the heavens, and his wonders in 
the great deep. Otherwise, he would not have 
written about the creation in his word, nor have 
commanded us by his Son to consider the ravens or 
the lilies of the field. But he means that we should 
" give the more earnest heed to the things which we have 
heard, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, 
and were confirmed unto us by them that heard him." 
Science can tell of God, and trace his footsteps every- 
where ; but it can tell of no remedy for sin, no Savior 
for the soul, no peace for the guilty. And in all our 
attentions to earthly wisdom, let us not forget that 
six days to science, with thirty or seventy given to 
the revelations of grace, is about the apportionment 
and relative importance which God in his word has 



28 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

indicated with reference to these things. How shall 
a man be just with Crod ? is the great question, which 
is answered only in revelation and Christianity. 
Christ only hath the words of eternal life. And if 
we would be wise with that wisdom which is unto 
salvation, we must, above all things, attend to what 
he has written to us in his law, and meekly sit down 
as humble learners at the feet of prophets and apos- 
tles, whom he has sent to instruct us in the mysteries 
of his holy truth. 

Sad error this, to take 

The light of Nature, rather than the light 

Of Revelation, for a guide. As well 

Prefer the borrowed light of earth's pale moon 

To the effulgence of the noon-day sun. 

God hath spoken to us from the heavens — merci- 
fully spoken — spoken to the intent that we might 
be saved ; and whilst we do not refuse to listen to 
him in his works, let us ever give a reverent attention 
to him in his words. 



SECOND LECTURE. 

THE BURNT-OFFERING. 

LEV. CHAP. I. 

It is a little surprising, upon first view, that God 
should appoint or sanction rites and services of wor- 
ship, the observance of which would make his sanc- 
tuary look so much like a solemn slaughter-house. 
But, where sin is stayed and quenched, there must 
be blood. Blood is the substance of life ; and as sin 
involves the forfeiture of life, " without shedding of 
blood there is no remission." Hence, "almost all 
things are by the law purged with blood." 

These bloody rites, however, did not originate with 
"the law." It is a question with learned men how 
they did originate. Some refer them to some primi- 
tive enactment of GTod, and others regard them as 
the natural outgrowth of man's consciousness of sin, 
and his desire to appease the Divine anger felt to 
attend upon it. It is certain that they are nearly as 
old as man. They date back to Noah, to Abel, to 
Adam himself. They have been found among nearly 
all nations. And when God gave commandment to 
Moses concerning them, they already formed a part 
of the common religion of the world. They are not 
here spoken of as a new institution, now for the first 
time introduced; but are referred to rather as an 
ancient and well-known element of man's worship, 
to which the Divine Legislator meant only to affix a 
3 * (29) 



30 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

more specific ritual. That offerings would, and ought 
to, be made, seems to be taken for granted, whilst 
these new commands relate only to the manner in 
which they were to be made. "If," that is, in the 
ordinary course of things already familiar, or, " when, 
any man of you shall bring an offering to the Lord, 
ye shall bring" so and so. 

There is a worship, at least a disposition to wor- 
ship, which has descended upon all serious men from 
the very beginning. If man is not naturally a reli- 
gious being, there is something in this universe 
around him, or something which he drinks in with 
his mother's milk, which does infallibly impress and 
move him with religious feelings and desires. There 
is in all, at some time or other, some motions towards 
the idea of a G-od — a groping and searching, and 
unquietness of soul, as if struggling to feel its way 
to some acquaintance with its Maker, and to render 
some sort of homage to him. There is a theology 
even in Mature, and a faculty of worship or religious- 
ness which is somehow natural unto man. Revela- 
tion does not deny this, but takes it for granted, and 
often appeals to it, and proceeds upon it as its original 
ground-work. It does not propose to engraft a re- 
ligious department on man's constitution, but recog- 
nizes such a department as already in existence, and 
proposes merely to assist, and guide, and guard it 
against falsehood, idolatry, and superstition. Natural 
religion, in the present degenerate and corrupt con- 
dition of humanity, is not adequate to its original 
purpose. " Mature, left to herself, and unassisted by 
Divine teachings, certainly wanders into mazes of 
perplexity, involves herself in error and blindness, and 
becomes the victim of folly, full of all sorts of super- 



THE BURNT -OFFERING. 31 

stition." So said the knowing leader of the glorious 
reformation ; and all the records of time attest the 
truth of his statement. Man needs to hear a voice 
from heaven — a supernatural word — to guide him 
successfully to the true God, and to the right wor- 
ship of that God. Mature may dispose him to make 
offerings, and a common religious consciousness may 
approve and sanction them ; but it yet remains for 
God to say what sort of offerings are proper, and 
how they are to be acceptably presented. And the 
whole system of revelation and grace is aimed, not 
at the creation of something wholly new, but simply 
at the renovation, improvement, and guidance of 
what already exists. The saint is only the sinner 
cleansed of his sins, and set right before God. The 
new man, generated through grace, is only a holier 
product from a holier seed on the same original soil, 
where once grew the base overgrowth of iniquity 
and vice. The " new earth," which is to be through 
the mediation and reign of Jesus, is only the same 
earth, renovated and reclaimed, which has been from 
the beginning, and which always will be. The Gospel 
was not given to supersede Nature, but to restore, 
renew, and exalt it. 

You will notice, in the delivery of the laws and 
enactments contained in this book, that, although 
they were designed for the whole Jewish people, they 
were first given to Moses alone. The record says, 
" The Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him," 
and commanded him to " speak unto the children of 
Israel." The people themselves had previously re- 
quested this, and prayed that God might not speak 
directly to them, lest they should die. There is an 
awful terror in the natural conscience at beimr 



32 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

brought face to face with, the Almighty. The sinner 
wishes to avoid God all he can. As soon as Adam 
became a transgressor, he could no longer endure the 
voice of the Lord, and so tried to hide himself among 
the trees of the garden. When the voice of the 
Mighty One was heard upon the quaking mount, and 
the Lord came down upon Sinai, Israel was afraid, 
and cried out with terror. And at the face of Him 
who sitteth upon the throne, in the scenes revealed 
in John's Apocalypse, even the kings, and great 
men, and rich men, and mighty men of the earth, 
pray to the rocks and mountains to fall on them, that 
they may only be hidden from Him. To bring the 
sinner and his God harmoniously together, a medi- 
ator is necessary. There must be a daysman betwixt 
us, to lay his hand upon us both. And some such 
mediator was Moses between God and the ancient 
Hebrews. The Lord treated with them through him. 
They could listen to him, when they could not endure 
to hear God himself. He was a brother man, and 
him they could approach, when, to stand face to face 
with Jehovah, seemed to threaten death itself. And 
if ever we are to be brought into peaceful communi- 
cation with heaven, it must be through some media- 
torial personage, in whom there is a modification of 
the consuming fires of the divine glory, and with 
whom we can treat on terms of fraternal confidence 
and affection. " There is one God, and one mediator 
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." 

Another peculiarity in the delivery of these laws 
and ordinances, was, that the Lord spake them "out 
of the tabernacle ;" from the mercy-seat. He had 
previously spoken from the burning mountain, but 
in this case he spoke from the tent of propitiation. 



THE BURNT-OFFERING. 33 

This itself is significant of the nature of the ceremo- 
nial system. It was a system of remedies for sin, 
and hence a proclamation of mercy and good to the 
guilty. The moral law was an expression of God's 
wrath upon transgression. It contained not one ray 
of hope for the offender. It was therefore delivered 
in connection with its appropriate symbols of terror 
and indignation. The ceremonial economy was a 
remedial institution. It connected with the minis- 
tration of life and peace to fallen man. It was 
therefore given in a gentler form, and was made to 
proceed from the seat of mercy. The law given 
from the mountain is a minister of death. It is holy, 
just, and good; but its whole aspect is dark, impe- 
rious, threatening, and destructive to every offender. 
The Gospel is equally uncompromising with sin, and 
in like manner presents death as the just penalty of 
disobedience, and holds up blood as the only extin- 
guisher of transgression ; but, at the same time, it is 
a system of divine mercy, in which Jehovah comes 
down from the mountain of his wrath to make friends 
with repenting sinners over the blood of sacrifice. 
It "bringeth glad tidings, and publisheth peace." 

The first seven chapters of this book treat of Offer- 
ings. It begins with the bloody offerings, and with 
that particular kind of bloody offerings, which was 
the most complete and significant of all the Hebrew 
sacrifices — the holocaust, or whole burnt-offering. This 
wholly burnt sacrifice, lying, as it does, at the very 
threshold of the typical institutes, serves as a solemn 
proclamation to Jew and Gentile, that every man is 
deeply guilty before God, and never can approach 
him or secure his favor except by bloody and con- 
suming expiation. Blood — blood — blood — is the 

c 



34 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

perpetual and exacting cry of the law against every 
violator of its precepts ; and nntil that cry is hushed, 
and that demand satisfied, no one can see the face of 
God, and live. This holocaust, therefore, comes 
before us, as a practical type or illustration of that 
sacrifice by which sin is expiated and covered, as also 
of the portion awaiting those offenders for whom 
that sacrifice does not avail. In this light, then, let 
us proceed to consider it. 

I. Consider the sort of victim required for this 
sacrifice ; — a bullock, or a sheep, or, in case of great 
poverty, a young pigeon or dove — the very purest, 
cleanest, and best of creatures — nothing else would 
answer. And even these had to be the finest and 
most desirable specimens. If a bullock or a sheep, 
it had to be u a male without blemish" — the most per- 
fect of its kind. It is impossible to induce purity by 
anything impure. ~No imperfect being could become 
a perfect sacrifice, or effect a perfect righteousness. 
And when a victim was needed to atone for the 
world's guilt, none would answer but the very Chiet 
of all the flocks of God. The meek dove had to be 
brought from the pure olive groves of heaven, and 
the prince of the herd from the blessed pastures 
which are laved by the waters of life. Pure and 
perfect as the bright world from which he came, 
Christ, our sacrifice, "was holy, harmless, undefiled, 
and separate from sinners" — "a Lamb without spot" 
— the first, the purest, the gentlest, and the best in 
all the domain of the great God. He was the very 
Prince of creation, who knew no sin, neither was 
guile found in his mouth. 

II. Consider next what was done with the victim 
selected. If a bullock, the divine command was, 



THE BURNT-OFFERING. 35 

"Kill it before the Lord, and flay it, and cut it into 
his pieces." If from the flock, the word was "Kill 
it on the side of the altar northward, and cut it into 
his pieces." Who was to do this, is not clearly speci- 
fied. Any one, good or bad, priest or private, the 
worst or best, may become the executioner of the 
divine sentence. When Jesus was made an offering 
for us, earth and hell joined in the infliction of the 
sacrificial stroke. But whoever laid hands upon the 
victim, it was to be slain and cut into pieces. If a 
bird, the word of the Lord was "Wring off his head, 
and pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cleave 
it with the wings." Fit picture this of the end which 
awaits the unforgiven, and of what actually befell the 
blessed Savior who "was once offered to bear the 
sins of many." The plucking and tearing off of the 
skin was to show how naked the sinner is, and how 
completely he is exposed to the fires of divine wrath, 
and how unprotected Jesus was when he submitted 
to bear our sins in his own body on the tree. The 
cutting into pieces was to show what a complete un- 
doing of the sinner it is for him to have his sins 
visited upon him. It is like the severance of every 
joint, the dislocation of every limb, the tearing 
asunder of every member. What, then, must have 
been the anguish of Jesus as he stood in the sinner's 
place and received the strokes of the sacrificial blade 
upon him, the same as if it had hewn him into frag- 
ments ! The victim was to be separated " into his 
pieces" There was a certain order to be observed 
in the awful mutilation. All the tender openings of 
nature were to be followed. There is not an avenue 
to pain through which God's judgments will not 
strike in upon the finally condemned. There was 



36 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

not a tender susceptibility in the Savior which was 
not made to feel the edge pressing into it when he 
stood as the offering for the sins of men. There is 
no telling how deeply "he was wonnded for our 
transgressions." 

But in addition to this terrible mutilation, the vic- 
tim was yet to be put upon the altar and burned. 
The command was " the priest shall burn all on the 
altar." And a particular method was also to be ob- 
served in this burning. First the head and the loose 
fat were to be placed upon the fire ; the head from 
without, and the fat from within. After that the legs 
and the entrails were to be given to the flames ; the 
outward and the inward together. Man has a double 
nature ; and in all divine services, and under all 
divine inflictions, both departments fare alike. We 
cannot give our bodies to G-od and reserve our hearts, 
nor serve him in the spirit without bringing that 
service out into controlling influence over the flesh 
also. The whole man must go, or nothing. Nor is 
the ultimate doom of sin a mere bodily suffering, or 
the mere consuming of the exterior members ; nor 
yet mere mental wo and spiritual grief. As the 
Savior says, it is the destruction of " both body and 
soul in hell." Christ as our sacrifice, suffered not 
only in the outer man, but in his whole inner and 
outer nature conjoined. The nails, and thorns, and 
thongs he did not more feel in his fiesh than the 
pangs of unutterable grief in his inmost soul. True, 
only his "body was broken;" but as no part of the 
victim was saved from burning, so every part of 
Christ's mysterious nature came under the curse 
which he bore for us ; the prophet is witness that 
God also made " his soul an offering for sin." It was 



THE BURNT-OFFERING. 37 

the whole Christ that suffered for us ; and if his body 
only was broken, he himself said that his " soul" too 
was " exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." And 
just so every sinner who turns away from forgiveness 
in Christ, shall be subjected to the fires of divine 
indignation; and his whole nature, stripped, lacerated, 
dismembered, shall lie and consume in unquenchable 
flames. For so it is written, " The wicked shall 
perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the 
fat of lambs, they shall consume ; into smoJce shall they 
consume away." Ps. 37 : 20. 

HE. Consider further what was to be effected by the 
presentation of this particular kind of sacrifice. If 
the man who brought it would lay his hand upon its 
head, and so acknowledge it as that by which he 
hoped and prayed and trusted to be forgiven, the 
Lord said " it shall be accepted for him to make 
atonement for him." That is, the devoting of such a 
victim to death and fire was to answer as a substitute 
for the death and burning of the sinner himself. 
The word rendered atonement, primarily signifies to 
cover; especially in the sense of an adhesive cover- 
ing, as with pitch or plaister. From this original 
meaning came its metaphorical signification of ap- 
peasing, pacifying, covering over anger or wrath. 
"Its predominant usage," says Bush, "is in relation 
to the reconciliation effected between God and sin- 
ners, in which sense atonement for sin is the covering 
of sin, or the securing of the sinner from punishment. 
Thus when sin is pardoned, or its consequent calamity 
removed, the sin or person may be said to be covered, 
made safe, expiated, or atoned." The English word 
atonement, or at-one-ment, clearly expresses the idea. 
It involves such a removal or covering of the cause 
4 



38 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

of offence or variance as to produce reconciliation 
and friendly relations. The idea here is, that the 
sinner who should bring the prescribed offering, and 
lay his hand on it in humble confession, should 
thereby be absolved, forgiven, exonerated, saved 
from the consequences which would otherwise follow 
his transgressions. "What a beautiful illustration of 
our reconciliation to God through the death of his 
Son ! People sometimes revolt at this Gospel doc- 
trine of substitution. Some dispute its possibility, 
and some quibble at the justice of it. But God's 
thoughts are not as our thoughts. There are many 
fields of contemplation into which man has not yet 
looked, and many principles of jurisprudence which 
he has not yet fathomed ; and why should we set up 
the poor deductions of our weak reason against the 
revelations of an economy as deep and broad as the 
mind of God. By whatever laws of right or love 
the victim was procured, by whatever principles of 
justification the innocent takes the place of the 
guilty, or by whatever juridical metonomy the suffer- 
ings of Jesus become the payment of the penitent 
sinner's forfeitures, so it is written, and such is the 
very nerve and marrow of the Gospel, that "he was 
wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our 
iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was upon 
him, and with his stripes we are healed.'" We may 
start back, and affect to lift up our hands in horror 
at the thought of a transfer of our guilt to the immac- 
ulate Christ; yet, the Holy Ghost is witness, that 
" The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all," 
yea, and " made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, 
that we might be the righteousness of God in him." Let 
man's philosophy cavil, and unbelief vaunt itself, it 



THE BURNT-OFFERING. 39 

is the word of God's inspiration, that " Christ hath 
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a 
curse for us." Pie was " delivered for our offences, 
and raised again for our justification." So that he is 
the true holocaust, upon whom, if the sinner will 
penitently lean, he is saved from condemnation, and 
reconciled to his offended sovereign. Be his sins as 
numerous as the sands, or deep-dyed as the robes of 
the mother of harlots drunk with the blood of the 
saints, if he contritely and obediently take Jesus as 
his sin-offering and his hope, his iniquities are covered, 
and at-one-ment between him and the Father is made. 
IY. There yet remains one other particular to be 
noticed with regard to this atoning offering; and 
that is, the perfect freedom with which any and 
every one might avail himself of its benefits. It was 
confined to no special time, and demanded no specific 
juncture of affairs. It was as free at one season as 
at another, and could be resorted to whenever any 
one felt himself moved in that way. If the wor- 
shipper could not bring a bullock, a sheep would 
answer. And if too poor to furnish either, a dove 
or pigeon was just as acceptable. There was no 
reason why any one should not come and share the 
benefits of a full expiation through the burnt-offer- 
ing of atonement. All that a man wanted was the 
consent and determination of his own heart — the 
motion of " his own voluntary will." !Now this was 
not accidental. It was meant to set forth a great 
Gospel truth. It tells of the perfect freeness with 
which one and all may be saved, if only there is the 
proper effort made. It was the lifting up of the 
voice of mercy even in that remote antiquity, crying, 
"Come; whosoever will, let him come." Jesus is the 



40 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

turtle-dove for the poor as well as the lamb for the 
rich. And there is no reason why any sin-bnrdened 
soul should bear its guilt one single day or hour 
longer. If you are thirsty, and anxious to draw near 
to God ; the altar of sacrifice, and the house in which 
he dwells, is before you. If you are in need of a 
victim ; there is one close at hand, even the choicest 
of the flock of God. " Say not in thine heart, "Who 
shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down 
from above ; or, Who shall descend into the deep, 
that is to bring Christ up again from the dead. The 
word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thine 
heart ; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the 
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God 
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." 
Whatever be the peculiar nature or weight of the 
sin, your effectual offering is before you, ready to bear 
it all away. Just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; 
put your hand in humble confession upon his holy 
brow ; lean upon him as your sacrificial lamb ; and 
God hath said, "It shall be accepted for you, to 
make an atonement for you" — your peace is made 
with your offended Maker. 

No mortal has a just pretence 
To perish in despair. 

Such, my friends, is a brief sketch of the burnt- 
offering according to the word which the Lord spake 
unto Moses. What startling significance gathers 
around the spectacle of its presentation ! Draw near, 
ye children of Adam, and survey it yet again. Be- 
hold that bound victim led to the slaughter — the 
prince of the pastures seized for immolation — the 
meek dove torn from its peaceful nest to die. Behold 



THE BURNT-OFFERING. 41 

the fires kindling into flame, and the knife of the 
sacrificer warming with blood. See the noble crea- 
ture transmuted into a mass of disjointed bones and 
mangled flesh. Not its pitiful look of despair, nor its 
last cry, or struggle, or quiver of wo, could relax a 
muscle of the strong executioner, or abstract a jot 
from the terrors of the strokes or the tires. Its joy, 
audits peace, and its hope, are gone — clean gone 
for ever. The flames are feeding on its beauty, and 
consuming all its tender parts. Its end has come ! 
"What meaneth this scene of anguish and fierce in- 
fliction ? What is it, but another version of the 
pathetic story told in the last chapters of Matthew, 
Mark, Luke and John ? What are we to see in it 
but the blessed Savior expiating the guilt of man ? 
What is it, but God's own fact-picture of the break- 
ing of the body and shedding of the blood of Jesus 
for us and for many for the remission of sins ? 

Draw near, then, oh Christian, and see what thy 
Lord hath done for thee. Thus did he come down 
from the great fields of heaven, and bow his head to 
the sacrificial knife. Thus was his blood spilled, his 
flesh laid bare, and his whole nature torn, disjointed, 
and given to the burning flames of penal condemna- 
tion, that thy soul might live. Thus was he marred, 
and mangled, and consumed on Calvary, to avert 
eternal death from thee. Look, and let thy heart be 
melted into grateful, penitential joy; for, as thou 
believest and leanest on his mysterious immolation, 
thy sins are cancelled and remembered no more. 
Read there the cost of thy salvation writ in blood, 
and that the savory smoke which ascends to call thy 
pardon down is fed by the torn body of thy dying 
Savior, Oh, rejoice, and be glad, that Heaven has 
4* 



42 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

thus thought on thee, and expended so much on thy 
good, and never let thine heart turn again from him 
who has thus loved thee, and given himself for thee. 
Thou art bought with blood; and let thy humble 
gratitude never cease to ascend for what thy Lord 
and Life has done for thee. 

But let the sinner also come and look on this 
bloody scene. The rites of the burnt offering have 
also a solemn lesson for him. Fearfully do they pro- 
phesy of the turpitude and damning heinousness of 
sin. Some think that sin is nothing ; that God never 
will concern himself about it ; and that he is at any 
rate too good and merciful to punish it. Let such 
answer, then, why he has chosen such awful illustra- 
tions of his consuming wrath upon it? Why has he 
himself ordained so much blood, death-agony, and 
burning, as the only means of covering it? And, 
above all, why did he leave his own Son to such un- 
speakable suffering when found in the room and 
stead of the guilty? Did God fail to love his Son in 
that dreadful extremity? Did he take pleasure in 
those bitter pangs which so oppressed his only be- 
gotten in the garden, and so completely consumed 
him on the cross ? If too merciful to punish sin, had 
he forgotten to be gracious at that dreadful moment 
when the shafts of his violated law went forth to 
drink up the life of the darling of his bosom? Ho, 
ye morning stars, who sung in your joy over the 
world at its birth, and ye elders of the heavenly ages, 
who beheld the sun blaze its first light, and have kept 
the celestial records for uncounted years, when, where, 
or how, could there have been a more overwhelming 
testimony of God's abhorrence of sin, or of his un- 
faltering determination to punish it to the utmost ? 



THE BURNT-OFFERING. 43 

Had lie condemned criminals enough to crowd the 
pit, and reddened a thousand worlds with the blood 
of slain offenders, it would not have been an expres- 
sion of his holy indignation at sin at all commensu- 
rate with this one solitary example of the sacrifice 
of his only Son as an atonement for it. 

There was once a Roman governor, who made a 
law prescribing death as the penalty for a certain 
crime. To some the enactment seemed somewhat 
harsh and unnecessarily severe, and it was questioned 
whether he really would enforce the law. But pre- 
sently a circumstance occurred which forever swept 
away all doubt upon that point. It happened that 
his own son was the first offender. The boy whom 
he had carried in his arms, and dandled on his knee, 
and upon whom his heart was set with bright hopes, 
stood before him as the culprit. It was a case to tell 
all that was in that sovereign's heart as to his since- 
rity when he made the law. If he did not mean to 
execute it, here was an instance in which the fact 
must be revealed. If ever there were to be any re- 
lentings or relaxations of the law's rigor, they would 
here make their appearance. If there should be no 
yielding now, what offender could ever afterwards 
dream of impunity or escape ? And when all the 
tender and softening affections which worked in that 
father's heart towards his own son failed to move 
him from his integrity as a law-giver, and the darling 
object of his love and pride received the immolating 
sentence unmitigated from his lips, it not only laid 
a sublime capstone upon the monument of Roman 
virtue, but gave to the law a sanction and a seal 
un doubtable. It was parental affection writing down 
in the life-blood of its own offspring the stern adhe- 



44 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 






rence of sovereignty to the terrific sentence, " The 

SOUL THAT SINNETH, IT SHALL DIE." And when God 

spared not his only Son when found in the sinner's 
place, but launched upon him the law's full penalty, 
and put him under a curse at which the world shook 
and trembled, what unforgiven sinner can ever think 
of going unpunished? To reach sin, to kill sin, to 
satisfy justice and right in their demands against 
sin, God did not turn back when his only begotten 
was the victim ! "Whom then will he spare ? In whose 
case will he turn back ? what an alarum is rung 
into the ears of a drowsy world from Calvary ! Come, 
thou careless one, at rest in thy prayerlessness and 
sin, and dreaming of peace and safety, come, survey 
this ritual scene again. And with thine eye upon 
the suffering victim, within sight of its agonies, 
within sound of its groans, let me ask thee, If G-od 
did not spare his own Son from an immolation like 
this, how can he spare thee in thy impenitence and 
unbelief ? 

And then, thy doom, if thou art unsaved ! Who 
shall tell it ? Who can fathom the Saviour's agonies ? 
Read his anguish in the garden, when his great soul 
itself was ready to expire under the pressure. Read 
his wo upon the cross, which brought from him a cry 
at which creation shuddered. Consider the strength 
of that wave which could thus overwhelm the Prince 
of all God's hosts. And, " if they do these things in 
a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" If the 
stroke invoked by sin so overwhelmed the soul of 
Him whose voice could hush the storm and stop the 
ocean's billows, yea drive out devils and raise the 
putrid dead; what shall be thy portion, helpless mor- 
tal, when that stroke comes to be visited on thee ! 



THE BURNT-OFFERING. 45 

Oh ! think of this, and repent thee of thy follies. The 
great Lord asks, " Why will you die?" Haste thee, 
! sinner, to thy refuge in the great offering made 
for thy redemption. Forgiveness, peace and life are 
within thy reach. Christ has been offered to purge 
away thy guilt. Embrace him then as thine, lest 
eternity should find thee in thy sins and in thy 
blood. 



THIRD LECTURE. 

THE MEAT-OFFEKING. 

LEV. CHAP. II. 






Theee are some differences between the offerings 
here prescribed, and those treated of in the preceding 
chapter. Those were animal; these are vegetable. 
Those were bloody sacrifices; these are unbloody 
oblations. Those were wholly consumed upon the 
altar ; these were to be burned only in part, and the 
remainder made the property of the priests. Those 
were altogether propitiator!/ — intended to expiate 
sin ; these are essentially eucharistic — expressions 
and returns of gratitude and thanksgiving. 

And as these differ from the preceding in their 
nature, so do they also in their application and mean- 
ing. Both refer to Christ, and to the sinner as repre- 
sented in Christ ; but in other attitudes. The former 
presented the Savior in his character as " a propitia- 
tion for our sins;" in these he is exhibited as our 
model and sanctifier, through whom we ourselves 
are offered to the Lord. The one relates to justifica- 
tion, or the mere forgiveness or atonement of sin ; 
these relate to sanctification, or our conformity to 
Christ's holiness. In the one we behold penitence 
laying its hand on the head of the innocent sufferer, 
and praying to be spared for that sufferer's sake. In 
those now before us, we behold gratitude making 
its living return for the unspeakable gift obtained 

(46) 



THE MEAT-OFFERING. 47 

through the former. The one, however, is not to be 
separated from the other. The holocaust, or whole 
burnt-offering of the first chapter, and the meat, or 
rather bread, offering, are but two parts of one great 
transaction. According to the twenty-ninth of Exo- 
dus, it was not allowable to present a holocaust with- . 
out accompanying it with a meat-offering. The 
fifteenth of Numbers also connects the two, as in some 
sense parts of each other. 

The holocaust goes first. This is the foundation 
of the whole process. A man cannot be sanctified, 
or made holy, without first having his past sins 
covered and forgiven. But mere forgiveness, with- 
out something more to follow it, is not salvation. 
There must be reformation, and a moral change, 
additional to the atonement, or we shall soon find 
ourselves again just where we were before. Hence 
followed the meat-offering, as a sort of essential con- 
sequent and filling out of the holocaust, indicating 
the grateful surrender of the sinner to a life of obe- 
dience. The relation between the two is intimate 
and essential. To separate them, would be to put 
asunder what G-od hath joined together — a vitiation 
of the Divine arrangement. If we have effectually 
laid hold upon Christ as the sacrifice for our sins, 
we must needs go on to glorify him in our bodies 
and our spirits, which are his. No attempt to be holy 
shall ever succeed before God, unless founded upon 
atonement by blood. From the days of Adam, 
bloody sacrifices and meat-offerings went together ; 
and until the day of doom, justification through 
the blood of Christ, and sanctification, must remain 
connected and inseparable. Abel brought of the 
firstlings of his flock, and so looked for acceptance 



48 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

through blood; "and the Lord had respect unto 
Abel and to his offering." Cain refused to offer the 
sacrifice of blood ; and though he brought the fruit 
of the ground — the meat-offering — God had no 
respect to him, or to his offering. The one embraced 
the doctrine of atonement by blood, and thus became 
pleasing to God, and a . holy and patient martyr. 
The other expected to be sanctified without atone- 
ment by blood, and with all his meat-offerings, he 
remained under the curse, and became a persecutor 
and a murderer. Sanctification by the Spirit is built 
upon justification by the blood of atonement. And 
it is only when we have received Christ in his cha- 
racter of a sacrifice for our sins, that we are in a 
condition to render ourselves a living sacrifice, so as 
to be acceptable to God. The meat-offering illus- 
trates the second great step in the process of salvation. 
Let us, then, look at it somewhat more in detail. 

I. Let it be observed, that the Jew, for the sub- 
stance of his meat-offering, was directed to bring 
fine flour, or cakes or wafers of fine fiour, or fine 
flour baked on a plate, or fine flour fried in oil, or 
the first fruits in advance of the harvest beaten out 
of full ears dried by the fire. Either wheat or barley 
would answer ; but the requirement reached the very 
best grain, either whole, as in the case of the first 
fruits, or in its very finest and best preparations. 
Thus are we to offer our very best to the Lord — our 
bodies and souls, our faculties and attainments — and 
in the highest perfection in which we can bring them. 
Christ is the very finest of the wheat and flour, as 
well as the chiefest of the flock ; and both as the 
one, and as the other, he was completely given to the 
Lord. From the silence of far eternity, his voice 



THE MEAT-OFFERING. 49 

was heard, saying, "Lo, I come, to do thy will, 
God !" "When on earth, it was his constant protesta- 
tion, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine 
own will, but the will of him that sent me." And 
up to his last hours, when the clouds of his great 
agony began to settle heavy upon him, he still held 
out to this : " Father, if thou be willing, remove this 
cup from me ; nevertheless, not my will, but thine, 
be done." "Being found in fashion as a man, he 
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, 
even the death of the cross." There was no selfish 
reservation in him. He freely surrendered every- 
thing, even to the laying down of his life in cruci- 
fixion. This he did, not only as our burnt-offering, 
but also as our meat-offering, "leaving us an exam- 
ple, that we should follow his steps." And if we are 
to be identified with him to the forgiveness of our 
sins through his blood, we must also be identified 
with him in a living exemplification of his spirit by 
walking "even as he walked." "I have given you 
an example," says he, "that ye should do as I have 
done." To our faith in him as our sacrifice, we 
must, therefore, add a devout imitation of him as our 
model. We must submit ourselves to God, as he 
submitted himself; and give ourselves entirely up to 
do the whole will of the Father, as he gave himself. 
"For if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is 
none of his." Holiness is not the mere saying of a 
few prayers ; or the paying of a few weekly visits to 
the sanctuary; or the giving of a few pennies, now 
and then, for the Church or the poor. It is the ren- 
dition of fresh grain and fine flour to the Lord, our 
God and benefactor. It is the presentation of our 
5 d 



50 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 






entire selves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto 
God, which is our reasonable service. 

II. It is also to be observed, that oil was to be 
poured upon, or mingled with, the flour of the meat- 
offering. This was not common oil, but the oil of 
unction, or holy oil. It was a peculiar composition, 
made according to divine directions. It was made 
of " pure myrrh," "sweet cinnamon," "sweet cala- 
mus," "cassia," and "olive oil," "compounded after 
the art of the apothecary." It was a material used 
in consecrating, or setting apart. It refers to the 
Holy Spirit, and the operations of that Spirit in 
setting apart whom he pleases. It typifies that 
" unction of the Holy One" of which John speaks so 
largely. No offering of ourselves to God, no true 
sanctification can occur, without the oil of divine 
grace, the principle of holiness and sacred power 
which is poured upon the believer by the Holy Ghost. 
Even Jesus had to be thus anointed, or christed, before 
he was fully set apart to his work, or could become 
our acceptable oblation. And in this also he is our 
example. ~No consecration is complete without this 
holy unction and anointing of the Spirit. It is not 
the mere surrender of ourselves to the Lord that 
makes us holy, but the accompanying oil of the Holy 
Ghost, working in and through us, mellowing and 
softening everything to the divine will, and making 
our whole being fragrant with love, gratitude, rever- 
ence, and every gracious disposition. " The fruit of 
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentle- 
ness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, and 
such like." These are the graces in which the Spirit 
manifests its presence and operations. These are the 
myrrh, and cinnamon, and sweet calamus, and cassia, 



THE MEAT-OFFERING. 51 

and olive oil, which are to perfume and lubricate the 
fine flour which we bring to the altar of God. And 
without these, or the sincere effort to have them 
accompany our gifts, we fail in our oblation, and are 
not accepted before the Lord. 

III. You will notice here another peculiarity in the 
meat-offering. There was frankincense to be put on 
it. The frankincense, or olihanum, was a resinous 
gum, obtained from a tree of the turpentine bearing 
kind, which, when put upon the fire, or a hot plate, 
sent forth very fragrant vapor. In the case of the 
meat-offering, it was to be wholly burnt on the altar. 
This circumstance identifies it at once with the 
burnt-offering, or holocaust. That burnt-offering, as 
we saw in our last, represented Christ as the sacrifice 
for our sins. The frankincense therefore plays the 
part here, of representing the mediation and inter- 
cession of the Savior — the grateful fragrance which 
comes up before God from the altar of burnt sacrifice. 
Our consecration to God, even with the gracious 
operations of the Spirit, could not be acceptable, ex- 
cept through Christ, and the sweet intercessorial per- 
fume which arises from his offering in our behalf. 
It is remarkable how particular the Scriptures are, 
in making everything connected with our salvation 
depend upon Christ and his suffering in our stead. 
The meat-offering is based upon the holocaust ; our 
consecration to God is on the ground of our justifi- 
cation through the blood of atonement. And even 
then it is nothing, except through the appeals and 
grateful intercessions which continue to rise and plead 
for us from the cross of Calvary. With all our forgive- 
ness, and all our consecration, and all our spiritual 
graces, we should still fail to approve ourselves unto 



52 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

God, but for the incense that rises from the burned 
lamb. It is all through the mediation and merit of 
Christ, that our services for his honor and glory, our 
gifts to his priests or his poor, our works of faith and 
love, or any of the best deeds of the best saints, " come 
up as an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, 
well-pleasing to God." It is a comforting thought, 
that our poor services and prayers, if sincere, are 
acceptable to the Lord — that our tears for the deso- 
lations of Zion are all treasured in his bottle — and 
that our efforts for good are things in which he de- 
lights. But it is all owing to the sweet frankincense 
of the Savior's righteousness and atoning sacrifice. 
To him we are indebted for it all. As a sweet flower 
over which the passing traveller stoops down to regale 
himself with its fragrance, so does the Father delight 
in the mediation work of his Son. This is "the 
mountain of myrrh, and the hill of frankincense," to 
which he betakes himself "until the day break, and 
the shadows flee away." And so should all Chris- 
tians seek to dwell amid the Redeemer's righteous- 
ness, that, like the maidens of Ahasuerus, they may 
be fragrant with sweet odors for the bridegroom's 
coming. 

IV. Another peculiar regulation in the case of this 
meat-offering is, that it was to be kept clear of leaven 
and honey. The record says, "No meat-offering 
which ye shall bring unto the Lord shall be made 
with leaven : for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any 
honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire." 

Leaven indicates corruption. Its principle is a spe- 
cies of putrefaction. It tends to spoil and decay. 
"We can be at no loss to ascertain the moral meaning 
of its prohibition in this case. 



THE MEAT-OFFERING. 53 

" Leaven is a well known emblem of pride and 
hypocrisy. These swell the heart, and puff it np 
with self-importance and self-deceit. This was espe- 
cially the leaven of the Pharisees, who made their 
prayers, and gave their alms, and did all, to be seen 
of men." 

" Leaven is also used as an emblem of malice and 
wickedness, as we learn from the words of the apos- 
tle, 'Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nei- 
ther with the leaven of malice and wickedoess, but 
with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.' " 
(Bush in loc.) 

By forbidding the use of leaven, then, God meant 
to set forth the truth, that our offering to him must 
be pure, and accompanied with a charitable heart. 
Any insincerity, hypocrisy, selfishness, malice, or 
wickedness cherished in the soul, will corrupt, vitiate, 
and destroy any man's piety or consecration to God. 
We must be honest in these sacred things, and in 
real earnest, and not deal deceitfully with others or 
with ourselves. If there is anything to be abhorred, 
it is the man who seeks to promote his own selfish 
ends by pretending to be devout and good. Not too 
much did the indignant poet say, when he charged 
such a man with " stealing the livery of heaven to 
serve the devil in." If we would be Christians 
indeed, we must purge out the old leaven of hypoc- 
risy, and let it not so much as touch our sacred offer- 
ings. It is a foul and putrefying thing. And so 
also with "the leaven of malice." It must be put 
away far from us. It is a dreadful corruption to be 
bearing enmity and hatred. It unfits for everything 
good, and sullies the soul in which it dwells. "We 
must be forgiving. What saith the Savior? "If 
5* 



54 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remem- 
berest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave 
there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way ; first 
be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer 
thy gift." " And when ye stand praying, if ye have 
aught against any, forgive; that your Father also 
which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses : 
but if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father 
which is in heaven forgive your trespasses." We 
must purge out the old leaven of malice. It will 
taint any offering, however perfect and pure other- 
wise. 

But why keep away honey ? Simply because it is 
a fermenter, a corrupter, and carries in it the princi- 
ple of putrefaction. And as leaven represents the 
ugly, offensive, sour elements of depravity, so honey 
is the emblem of such as are sweet and attractive to 
the taste — " the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the 
eyes, and the pride of life." Sensual, indulgences 
and worldly pleasures, as well as hypocrisy and 
malice, will corrupt and destroy our best oblations. 
God does not mean that we should become cynics 
and eremites. The good and the blessedness that is 
in the world, is here for his friends, and not only for 
his enemies. He has not placed us in connection 
with the grand physical economy around us, just to 
torment us with the sorry efforts of trying to cut 
loose from it. He has not given us these -^ve senses, 
just that they might be five grand avenues of vexa- 
tion and torture by depriving them of the very 
gratifications for which they were made. I cannot 
so conceive of God, or of his ways. Nay, how does 
the Christian's charter run? u All things are yours ; 
whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, 






THE MEAT-OFFERING. 65 

or life, or death, or things present, or things to come ; 
all are yours." Would God deprive me of what is 
mine by solemn charter under his own seal ? No, 
never. What is it, then, that he does demand ? It 
is simply that we " use this world as not abusing it" — 
that we make it our servant, and not ourselves its 
servants. Most men love and serve the creature 
more than the Creator. They know no God but 
pleasure. They honor no king but self. They live 
only to the flesh. They are not only sinners, but 
take pleasure in their sins. And this is that pntre- 
fying honey proscribed and prohibited by the Lord — 
"the members upon the earth" which we must 
"mortify." "Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate 
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness," will 
make any offering an abomination unto the Lord, 
and must be wholly and forever avoided, if we would 
have the favor of God upon us or our services. 
There dare be no honey with the meat-offering — no 
sensuality or licentiousness along with our consecra- 
tion to Jehovah. 

Y. Notice still another particular in this very 
significant service. Salt was to he used in it. The 
command was, "Every oblation of thy meat-offering 
shalt thou season with salt ; neither shalt thou suffer 
the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking 
from thy meat-offering : with all thine offerings thou 
shalt offer salt." "What did this mean ? 

Salt is just the opposite of leaven. The one cor- 
rupts, the other preserves. The one taints and 
hastens putrefaction ; the other purifies and keeps 
wholesome. It was the custom in ancient times to 
ratify and confirm nearly every important bargain or 
contract by the eating together of the parties. This 



56 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

of course required the use of salt as an article inva- 
riably present on all such occasions. It thus, or in 
some other way, came to be regarded as a symbol of 
agreement and pure abiding friendship. God's cove- 
nant is called "a covenant of salt;" because it is a 
covenant of sincere friendship, which is to endure. 
" The salt of the covenant," is the emblem of the 
honesty and incorruptible character of the covenant. 
The salt of the meat-offering, then, tells of agree- 
ment ; of real, mutual, happy agreement. If we are 
true in presenting ourselves to God, we come into 
harmony with God. We become his friends, and he 
our friend. As we move to him, he moves to us. 
As we come to terms with him, he comes to terms 
with us. We agree to be his obedient and loving 
children, and he agrees to be our protecting and 
loving Father. "We give ourselves up to be his people, 
and he brings himself down to be our God. There 
is a complete concord and union — a welding together 
in a holy compact never to be broken. And without 
this salt, the offering is faulty and of none effect. 
We must throw down all our rebellion and selfish- 
ness, and cheerfully submit ourselves to God. We 
must join ourselves to him in friendly and inviolable 
bonds. We must covenant with him as he covenants 
with us, in " a covenant of salt;" that is, in an ever- 
lasting covenant of love and faithfulness. 

But this same salt tells also of a pure, healthful, 
pervading savor of virtue and grace. It was the 
principle of savory purification to the sacrifice ; and 
so the Savior requires of us to "have salt in our- 
selves." As every Christian is to be a living sacrifice 
— an accepted oblation unto God, he must comply 
with the law of sacrifice, and "be salted with salt;" 



THE MEAT-OFFERING. 57 

that is, made savory and incorruptible by being per- 
vaded with unfaltering principles of righteousness. 
His speech must be " always with grace, seasoned 
with salt;" that is, he must be a man of pure lips, 
not allowing corrupt communications to proceed out 
of his mouth. And no one can ever be a steadfast 
and accepted Christian without having in him the 
savory salt of good principles — honest intentions, 
and decided virtues. " With all thine offerings thou 
shalt offer salt." 

How clearly and beautifully does all this set forth 
our sanctification in Christ Jesus ! Many have de- 
bated, and wondered, and argued as to what sancti- 
fication is. Here is the answer. It is the willing 
and cheerful presentation of ourselves and our best 
to the Lord. It is the oil of the Holy Spirit pouring 
over us, and mixing through and through us, soften- 
ing and consecrating every part and particle of us, 
and working in us the sweet fruits of grace. It is 
our poor but best endeavors perfumed and made ac- 
ceptable by the rich frankincense of the Savior's 
immolation. It is the purging of ourselves of the 
corrupting leaven of hypocrisy, malice, wickedness, 
and all the deceitful honey of sensual sweetness. It 
is the binding of ourselves to God in " a covenant 
of salt" — a covenant of perfect friendship and ever- 
lasting compact — a covenant ever to be actuated by 
pure motives and good principles. This is religion 
— piety — holiness. This is what God means that we 
should do and be, and for which he has made every 
necessary arrangement in the construction of the 
Gospel system. With this we are his friends, his 
chosen ones, his children, and heirs of all his glory. 
" Happy are the people that are in such a case ; yea, 



58 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

happy the people whose God is the Lord !" " They 
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." 

VI. There is yet one particular respecting this meat- 
offering, to which I will call attention. I refer to its 
eucharistic nature. It was not so much a sacrifice as 
an oblation of praise. It was something of a thanks- 
giving service — a grateful return for forgiving mer- 
cies — a devout acknowledgment of deep and lasting 
indebtedness to God for his unspeakable goodness. 
"When the pious Jew came with his sheaf or lubri- 
cated flour, his heart glowed with the sentiment of 
the Psalmist, "What shall I render unto the Lord 
for all his benefits towards me !" 

Many are the obligations by which we are bound 
to present ourselves as living sacrifices unto God. 
Viewed in whatever light, it is our "reasonable ser- 
vice." But of all the great arguments which bind 
and move us to this surrender to our Maker, none 
stand out with a prominence so full and commanding 
as that drawn from "the mercies of God." "When 
the apostle Paul looked around for considerations to 
persuade men to make the necessary offering of 
themselves to the Lord, he at once seized upon "the 
mercies of God," and began to beseech "by the 
mercies of God." The mercies of God — the mercies 
of God — this was argument enough. By these are 
we shut up and bound in to a life of holy consecra- 
tion by walls and incentives which no man ought 
ever to wish to break, and which no good man will 
ever ignore or disregard. " The mercies of God!" 
who shall tell their excellence, their multitude, and 
the deep and mighty obligations with which they 
bind us to grateful and cheerful obedience to our 
Maker ! Many a fond affection has glowed in the 



THE MEAT-OFFERING. 59 

human heart, beautifying the circle of friendship, 
blessing the quiet home, dropping flowers along the 
pathway of life, and awakening reverence and attach- 
ments as strong as death ; but none so unfaltering or 
so munificent in good as " the mercies of God." We 
were wrapped up with them in our Creator's thought 
before our life began. They were present, breathing 
their blessings with our very substance, when we 
were fashioned into men. Before our appearance in 
the world, they had been at work preparing many 
fond affections for our reception, and arranging many 
a soft cushion to come between this hard earth and 
our youthful tenderness. They have tempered the 
seasons for our good, and filled the horn of plenty 
to make us blessed. Every day is a handful of sun- 
beams, kindled and cast down by the mercies of God, 
to gladden the place of our abode, and to light us to 
the paths of peace. Every night is a pavilion of 
the same making, set around us to give us rest, 
whilst God touches his fingers to our eyelids, saying, 
" Sleep, my children, sleep." These living natures, 
by which we are distinguished from inanimate clods 
— these thinking, reasoning, moral powers, by which 
alone we rise above the brutes of the field — this 
beautiful creation by which we are surrounded — this 
earth, so admirably fitted up for our residence, car- 
peted with green and flowers, waving with pleasant 
harvests and shady trees, gushing with springs, 
gladdened with laughing brooks, lined with winding 
rivers broad and silvery, varied with hill and valley, 
girt round with the majesty of ocean, and arched 
over with a starry canopy which is the pavement of 
heaven — these varying seasons, youthful spring with 
life bursting out under all its dewy steps, autumn 



60 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

with its mellow glory and harvest songs, winter with 
its snowy vestments and joyons firesides — and living 
nature in ten thousand forms, singing, and dancing, 
and rejoicing before us forever; whence is all this? 
To what mysterious authorship is all this good and 
blessing to be ascribed ? Ask from the angels who 
looked on when the world was made — ask of the 
morning stars which sang together when it rolled 
forth into its place in the circuits of the sky — ask of 
the sons of God who shouted for joy as it went 
wheeling over its everlasting course — ask of the 
floods that clap their hands, and of the mountains 
and the hills that never cease their singing — ask of 
the winds that drive the chariot of Deity, and of 
the years that mark the revolutions of its wheels ; 
one answer comes from all : " The mekcies of God !" 
And yet the half has not been told. Why is it that 
any sinner is out of hell at this moment ? Why was 
he not cut down in his first fit of passion, and sent 
to the judgment long ago for his sins. "Why has not 
the earth yawned under him and swallowed him up 
as an ingrate rebel against the majesty of heaven? 
Why have not the thunders of eternity leaped forth 
and consumed him forever? Why does the voice 
of salvation come to him again and again, inviting 
to an everlasting home far in the peaceful sky ? Why 
do the holy agencies of immortality throng around 
him to woo and win him from the ways of death ? 
Why do redemption's hopes still visit him as loving 
angels, and plead so earnestly for admission into his 
guilty soul ? Consider, O man, the goodness of thy 
Maker. Turn over the leaves of the great volume 
of his mercies, and read. Survey those mighty 
depths of love. Sum up the records of his compas- 



THE MEAT-OFFERING. 61 

sion. Thrust out a little into the ocean of his loving 
kindness, and say whether there is not something to 
move thee to lay thyself at once upon his altar, and 
to cry with thankful penitential joy — 

Here, Lord, I give myself away, 
; Tis all that I can do ! 

There was once a calm Lord's-day evening, when 
the little band of Christ's first disciples had quietly 
locked themselves into a private room for meditation 
and prayer. The night had hushed the busy world 
to rest, and solemn soberness was on the silent wait- 
ing worshippers. The door was securely shut, and 
all was still as the chamber of death. Suddenly there 
stood among them a mysterious stranger, and said, 
" Peace be unto you." He showed them his hands, 
with great gashes cut through them by strong 
nails. He unwound his mantle, and pointed them to 
a great opening torn up into his side. And he 
breathed on them, and said again, u Peace be unto you" 
It was one that had been dead. It was one who had 
been crucified. It was the risen Jesus, showing to 
his friends the marks of what he had borne for them, 
and proposing to them the rich purchase of his suffer- 
ings and death. It was an impressive scene, which 
made even the skeptical Thomas cry out, "My Lord ! 
and my God!" But that same mysterious personage 
is here, in this solemn assembly, at this very moment, 
as really as in the place where he met the waiting- 
disciples of old. Jesus is here ; for he says " Wher- 
ever two or three are gathered together in my name, 
there am I." We see him not, but he is here. Here 
he stretches forth his pierced hands, and uncovers 
his torn side, and says, " See, what I have endured 
6 



62 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

for you ! Thus was my body broken, and my blood 
shed, for yon ! Thns have I suffered for you, and 
bled for you, and given myself up to death for you, 
and -gone through the very woes of hell for you ! 
But I have now made peace by my cross, and taken 
away the sentence of wrath, and purchased eternal 
life, and am come to offer to you a home in the 
mansions of my Father ! You have given me many 
a cold neglect, and harsh word, and cruel thrust, by 
despising my Gospel, and turning away from my 
love ; but I forgive it all for ever, and offer you my 
peace ! Take it, and you will soon weep no more, 
and sorrow no more. Take it, and my angels shall 
be your companions and friends. Take it, and my 
Father will be your Father too. Take it, and my 
own hands shall minister for ever to your joy. Only 
"take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall 
find rest for your souls !" 0, the mercies of God ! 
The mercies of God ! Who is not moved by the 
mercies of God ! Who can refuse to say, 

Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it — 
Seal it from thy courts above ! 






FOURTH LECTURE. 

THE PEACE-OFFERING. 

LEV. CHAP. III. 

"We have here another class of offerings, differing 
from either of those which we have thus far consi- 
dered. Like the first, they are of a bloody nature, 
but still having peculiarities of their own. 

In the first class, treated of in the first chapter, 
only a bullock, or a lamb, or a dove, of the male 
kind, could be taken. In this class, the offering 
might be a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, whether 
male or female, only so that it was without blemish. 
All bloody sacrifices, of course, always represent 
Christ, in his character of an expiation. The reason 
for the allowed difference in the victims here, is, that 
this class of offerings fixes more upon the results, 
impartation, and reception of Christ's sacrifice, than 
upon the precise manner of it. The holocaust is the 
picture of the Savior, as the propitiation for sin. 
This is more especially a picture of his offering avail- 
ing for and conveyed to those who believe. 

The offerings of the first chapter were holocausts ; 
that is, they were to be burned entirely upon the 
altar. But such is not the case with these peace- 
offerings. The only parts of these to be burned, were 
the suet pertaining to the inwards, the two kidneys 
with their fat, the "caul" (sacking, or whatever it 
was,) of the liver, and, in the case of the sheep, the 

(63) 



64 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 






large fat tail, which, in Syrian sheep, was a most re- 
markable and highly prized part of the animal. 
These the priest was to take away, and burn upon 
the wood on the altar. It was the Lord's part, an 
offering made by fire of a sweet savor nnto the Most 
High. The breast and shoulder became the property 
of the priests, to be eaten by them. All that remained 
belonged to the offerer, to be eaten by him, his family 
and his friends, in a joyous sacred festival. This 
peculiarity settles the point to which I have just ad- 
verted, that these peace-offerings refer mainly to the 
benefits and blessings of Christ's sacrifice as distri- 
buted and feasted upon by his people. To this also 
answers their name. 

This particular kind of offering is called the peace- 
offering. The word peace, in the language of the 
Scriptures, has a shade of meaning not commonly 
attached to it in ordinary use. With most persons it 
signifies a cessation of hostilities, harmonious agree- 
ment, tranquillity, the absence of disturbance. But 
in the Scriptures it means more. Its predominant 
import there is, prosperity, welfare, joy, happiness. 
The original Hebrew word includes both these mean- 
ings. The old Greek version renders it by terms 
which signify a sacrificial feast of salvation. This, 
perhaps, comes as near to the real import of shelamim 
as we can come. The Scriptures elsewhere mention 
the peace-offering under a name which denotes vic- 
tims slain for banquets, especially for sacrificial ban- 
quets. The idea of great blessing, prosperity, re- 
joicing, evidently enters into the designation. We 
may therefore confidently take the peace-offering as 
a joyous festival, a solemn sacrificial banqueting, 
illustrative of the peace and joy which flows to be- 



THE PEACE-OFFERING. 65 

lie vers from the atoning work of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and our sanctification through his blood and 
Spirit. 

Eeligion is not a thing of gloom, but of gladness. 
It is not a sullen sourness, requiring a dull and mo- 
rose kind of life, barring all delight, all mirth, all 
pleasant cheer. It mingles with it a never-failing 
stream of true, pure, and steady peace. The first 
Gospel word that ever was uttered upon earth, was a 
joyful promise, kindling fond expectation and che- 
rished hope. The angel who came down to announce 
the fulfilment of that promise in the birth of the 
long-expected seed, said, "Behold, I bring you glad 
tidings of great joy." God is to his people "the 
God of peace" — a fountain of consolation — a dew 
of freshness and joy. He cheerfully smiles upon 
them with his favor, and anoints them with the oil 
of praise, and throws around them the sunshine of 
his loving kindness, and stretches forth his own pa- 
ternal hand to wipe away their tears. Laying our 
hands in humble confession upon the holy brow of 
his Son as our sacrificial Lamb, and presenting our- 
selves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto him, 
that same altar becomes to us a source of blessing, 
and furnishes us substance for a happy festival. 
"Being justified by faith, we have peace." "The 
kingdom of heaven is righteousness, peace, and joy 
in the Holy Ghost." A gloomy, dull, unsocial, dark- 
spirited Christian, is a very imperfect Christian. He 
has not entered into the full experience of his calling 
and prerogatives. He yet needs to bring his peace- 
offering. It yet remains for him to fulfil the com- 
mand, — "Be joyful in the Lord." Whatever some 
may say, Christianity is meant to be a feast — a great 



THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 



royal banquet for every invited guest — as well as 
penitential confession, and a living sacrifice. " Light 
is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the up- 
right in heart." 

Let us look, then, at some of the peculiarities and 
relations of the Christian's happiness, as it is pictured 
to us by Cod himself in the rites which he prescribed 
for the ancient peace-offering. 

I. The peace-offering was a bloody offering. Every- 
thing in Christian life, justification and sanctifica- 
tion, the forgiveness of our sins, and the acceptable- 
ness of our services, our hopes and our spiritual 
festivities, run back into Christ's vicarious sufferings, 
as their fountain and foundation. If he had not 
submitted to be slain and offered for us, we could 
not be forgiven ; and if not forgiven, we never could 
be holy and acceptable ; and without being holy and 
acceptable, we never could have peace. There is not 
a spiritual joy which the believer has, but must be 
traced back to atonement by blood. This is the cen- 
tre from which all Christian doctrine, and all Chris- 
tian experience, radiates, and into which it ultimately 
resolves itself. Without this, Christianity dwindles 
down into a cold, flat, and powerless morality, with 
no warming mysteries, no animating sublimities, no 
kindling and melting affections, no transforming 
potencies. Without this, the soul languishes and 
droops like a plant excluded from the sunshine, or 
flourishes only in its own disgrace. The sinner must 
have it, or he sinks into a dead and gloomy Deism, 
or into a mere idolatry of self, with his highest and 
tenderest affections shrivelled, crisped and destroyed. 
If we would have peace, it must be founded upon 
blood. If we would rejoice, our sacrifice must die. 



£ 



THE PEACE-OFFERING. 67 

If we would have a feast of fat things, the provision 
must come from the altar of immolation. 

II. The peace-offering comes after the meat-offering. 
"We must present the "fine flour" of our best affec- 
tions, and the fresh first fruits of uncorrupted obedi- 
dience, before we can come to feast upon the rich 
provisions of the altar. We must surrender ourselves 
to God, and give up to him in a "covenant of salt," 
before we can taste of the "peace-offering," or be 
happy in the Lord. There is a strong disposition in 
the human heart to reverse this divine order. People 
wish to have some comforting assurance that they are 
accepted and pardoned, before they start out upon 
the work of obedience. They stand aloof from 
swearing allegiance to God, decline to offer them- 
selves wholly to the Lord, refuse to join themselves 
unto the people of Jehovah, and draw back from the 
appointments of the church, until they have satis- 
factory proof that they are "converted" as they say. 
They want to have some spiritual consolation first, 
to assure them that they are right. They wish to 
experience the redeeming love of God before they 
will venture to do all the will of God. They desire 
to put the peace-offering before the meat-offering. 
And many people, in their ignorance, work them- 
selves into the persuasion that all is well with them, 
that they are now God's people, that the happiness 
they feel is the sweet peace of a well-founded hope, 
before they have even so much as made up their 
minds to join the Church at all. Nor do I doubt the 
reality of their alleged happy state of mind. But, I 
do say, that such a peace is a delusive peace. It is 
not the divine feast which comes from the altar, and 
which the Scriptures warrant. Before you can taste 



68 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

of the peace-offering, you must present the meat- 
offering. You must first give yourselves to God, and 
be fully made up to do all his will, and surrender 
every possible reservation, and yield your whole 
being a living sacrifice to him ; or your joy is a delu- 
sive joy, -and your hope, a hope that shall perish. 
Many very sincere people will recoil at this doctrine. 
They will say, " I know that I am a Christian, be- 
cause I am so happy. I know that my God is 
reconciled, and that I am his adopted child; for I 
feel it. True, I am not a member of any church ; I 
never go to the communion table ; my business and 
some of my dealings with my fellow-men are not in 
all respects considered reputable ; but God certainly 
is my God ; I cannot be mistaken in it ; I have the 
evidence of it in my own heart ; I know it, for I feel 
it; I am so happy." How often do we meet with 
persons just of this class ? And what are we to say 
to them ? It is not pleasant to disturb people in their 
joys ; but I tell you that such individuals are de- 
ceived. They are miserably imposing upon them- 
selves. They must give up to do all God's will, or 
their joy is not the solid peace of true Christianity. 
As long as they are content to stand aloof from God's 
Church and sacraments, or to harbor grudges against 
this one and that one, and to deal dishonorably to- 
wards any of their fellow men, they fail to surrender 
themselves wholly to the Lord, they have not yet 
brought their meat-offering ; and, with all their rap- 
tures and ecstacies, they are yet " in the gall of bit- 
terness, and in the bonds of iniquity." They may 
say, "Lord, Lord;" but he knows them not; he 
never knew them. They may cry "Peace, peace!" 



THE PEACE-OFFERING. b\) 

but there is no peace. The meat-offering must go 
first. 

III. The peace-offering was so arranged, that the most 
inward, the most tender, and the most marrowy part of 
the sacrifice became the Lord's part. The inner fat 
of the animal, the kidneys, the caul of the liver, 
and, if a sheep, the great fatty outward appendage, 
were to be burned on the altar, a sweet savor unto 
the Lord. Glod must be remembered in all our 
joys. Especially when we come to praise and enjoy 
him, and to appropriate to our hearts the glad pro- 
visions of his mercy, must we come offering to him 
the inmost, tenderest and richest of our soul's attri- 
butes. It was thus that Jesus was made a peace- 
offering for us. Every deep affection, every tender 
emotion, all that love could feel, all that desire could 
yearn over, did he give, when, " through the Eternal 
Spirit, he offered himself to God," to make our 
peace. It was upon these that the fire fed as they 
flashed forth from the face of indignant heaven. But 
he hesitated not to yield them up to all the consuming 
heat of wrath. And as he devoted every rich 
thought, every strong emotion, every intense feeling, 
for us, we must now send back the same to him 
without stint or tarnish. "We may love our friends ; 
but we must love Christ more. We may feel for 
those united to us in the bonds of domestic life ; but 
we must feel still more for Jesus and his Church. We 
may be moved with earthly passions ; but the pro- 
foundest and best of all our emotions must be given 
to the Lord. The fat, the kidneys, and the most 
tender and marrowy parts, are his. To withhold 
them, or to expend them upon friend or self, would 



70 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

be desecration, robbery of G-od, violation of bis law, 
and a total vitiation of our offering. 

IV. The peace-offerings were sacrifices of gratitude 
and praise — a species of joyous, thankful banquetings. 
"When the Jew came to make a peace-offering, it was 
with his heart moved and his thoughts filled with 
some distinguished mercy. Any remarkable favor 
was a call for a peace-offering. "When Hezekiah 
succeeded in abolishing idolatry, and saw the true 
worship restored, he had the people to join him in a 
peace-offering. When Manasseh was brought back 
from his captivity and restored to his kingdom, " he 
sacrificed peace-offerings." And if any one had 
been the subject of some great deliverance, or had 
been remarkably preserved or prospered, or had 
achieved some noble object, he gave expression to 
his grateful joy in a peace-offering. The true Chris- 
tian has been the subject of wonderful favors. He 
has had deliverance wrought for him, to which he 
may ever refer with joyful recollection. Frightful 
dangers once encompassed him. All the fierce artil- 
lery of heaven was once aimed at him as a rebel and 
a traitor to the righteous government of God. Per- 
dition's fiery floods were rolling under the very 
ground on which he walked. The frown of terrific 
condemnation was on him, and hell from beneath 
was moved to meet him at his coming. And when 
all was dark and desperate, the loving Savior rushed 
between him and destruction, and snatched him as a 
brand from the everlasting burning. He considers 
the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of 
that love which thus interposed for his rescue — the 
mighty woes which the Lord endured for him — the 
secure ground upon which he now stands in Christ 



THE PEACE-OFFERING. 71 

Jesus — and his soul overflows with tremulous glad- 
ness. He is melted, and yet is full of delight. He 
is solemnly joyous. What to say or do he hardly 
knows. He weeps, and yet exults while he weeps. 
He smiles with tears. He rejoices in awe. And the 
burden of his soul is, " magnify the Lord with me, 
and let us exalt his name together. I sought the 
Lord and he heard me, and delivered me from all my 
fears. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, 
and saved him out of all his troubles." The whole 
thing to him becomes a feast of profoundly solemn 
joy, in which he would gladly have all the world to 
participate. 

V. But the feasting of the peace-offering was on sacred 
food. The people might have feasts at home, and 
have other banquets ; but they were not peace-offer- 
ings. And so the Christian may have feasts and 
viands apart from the sacred food furnished directly 
from Christ. There is much virtuous enjoyment in 
this world of a merely secular sort, from none of 
which does Christianity exclude us. Talk of the 
enjoyments of learning and science; the Christian, 
as well as any other man, may tread those inspiring 
walks, and hold converse with nature and the past, 
and trace the footsteps of Omnipotence in the rocks 
— his finger-prints in the heavens — his praises in the 
rolling spheres — and his wisdom and goodness in 
everything. Talk of the happiness of domestic hfe, 
and the fond associations of friendship and love, and 
the silken cords which bind the household into a 
bundle of happiness ; there blooms not a flower by 
the hearthstone, the beauty and fragrance of which 
the Christian may not enjoy; nor is there a chain of 
tender and noble attachments in which he may not 



72 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

be a link. Talk of the pleasures that spring from 
refined art — of the sublime creations of the past, 
the musician, the painter, the sculptor, and the 
curious artificer ; it is enough to say, that God made 
his prophets poets, and has commanded us to praise 
him with songs and with harps, with stringed iDstru- 
ments and organs ; and that Jesus himself went with 
his disciples to view the temple, to " see what manner 
of stones, and what buildings" were there. And as 
to the beauties of the physical world, where has ever 
Jehovah forbidden man to consider the lilies of the 
field, how they grow — or the heavens, the work of 
his fingers — or the deep broad sea, in which are 
things innumerable — or the massive mountains, 
which proclaim his majesty — or his great water- 
spouts which shake the world and brew the thunder 
— or the sharp lightnings which go as his messengers, 
and say: "Here we are !" !N"ay, the Christian, above 
all men, is the best qualified to enjoy life in its real 
substance, and to draw from nature her ten thousand 
oracles of truth, good, and beauty. 

But all these are mere home-feasts on common 
viands. The food that was eaten in the joyous feast 
of the peace-offering fell from the altar. It was holy. 
No defiled person or stranger was allowed to touch 
it, or to partake of it. And so, above and superadded 
to the common joys of ordinary life, the Christian 
has a feast with which the stranger dare not meddle 
— a feast of fat things, of which the pure only can 
taste — a banquet of holy food proceeding directly 
from the altar at which his sacrifice was made. Of 
worldly comforts and bliss, some may be provi- 
dentially deprived ; but Christianity carries with it a 
consecrated good — a spiritual peace — a holy meat 



THE PEACE-OFFERING. 73 

— the same for the rich or the poor, the sick or the 
well, the living or the dying. Whosoever will come 
penitently to God, and present himself as a willing 
subject of Divine grace, shall from the altar receive 
a portion with which he and his house may be glad. 

Let us briefly review some of the faithful Chris- 
tian's peculiar joys. Let us follow him a little into 
the sources of his consolation, and see of what sort 
his feast is. 

And when I speak of the faithful Christian, I 
picture to myself a man who has gone through all 
the various services and experiences adumbrated in 
the Hebrew ritual as far as we have now considered 
it. I picture to myself a man who has brought his 
whole burnt-offering unto God, by a true confiding 
faith in Jesus Christ as the Lamb slain for the expia- 
tion of his sins ; who has presented his meat-offering 
by the entire surrender of himself a living sacrifice, 
holy, acceptable unto God; who has brought his 
peace-offering with the distinct consciousness that 
he owes everything to the blood that was shed for 
him on Calvary, and who is now fully pervaded and 
absorbed with the redeeming mercies of the Lord. 
Let him be what the world calls a learned man, or 
not ; let him be what we would call a man of taste, 
or not; let him be a minister at the altar, or an 
humble laborer at his daily toil, unnoticed by the 
gay multitude ; it matters not. He is a happy man. 
He has a feast with God. 

First of all is the great and cheering conviction of 
his heart, that there is a god ; that the universe is 
not an orphan, but has a righteous, almighty, and 
loving Father, who sees all, and provides for all, and 
takes care of all. Whatever disorders other men 
7 



74 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

may see, lie knows that the Lord reigneth, and is 
superintending all for good. Injustice and oppres- 
sion may rise up before him, and trample innocence 
to the dust ; but he is not overcome with fear. He 
knows there is a hand which will soon requite in- 
iquity, and rectify all inequalities. He knows that 
"the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy 
of the hypocrite but for a moment;" and that the 
time is coming, when righteousness shall be brought 
forth as the light, and judgment as the noonday. He 
may have misfortune, but he knows that it is guided 
by a Father who pities his distresses, and loves him 
with an everlasting love. He knows he has a Friend 
mightier than the powers of evil, and he sings in spite 
of his adversities — " The Lord is my strength and 
my shield, my heart trusteth in him, and I am helped : 
therefore my heart danceth for joy, and in my song 
will I praise him !" 

The next is the joyous light that shines upon him 
from God's revelation, relieving his native perplexi- 
ties, comforting his heart, filling him with pleasant 
wisdom, and kindling radiance along all his path. 
Here the riddle of life is explained to him, his duty 
made plain, and his conscience put to rest. Here is 
food for delightful meditation, and living water for 
his thirsty soul. Drinking ever from these wells of 
salvation, he repeats again the grand experiences of 
the ancient saints. He becomes another Enoch walk- 
ing with God, and a Moses on the Mount, and a IsToah 
outriding the waves which flood and overwhelm the 
unbelieving world. He is Isaiah, filled with visions 
of God, the living temple, and the everlasting throne, 
where seraphs in their worship cry, — " Holy, Holy, 
Holy !" He is John, leaning on his Savior's breast, 



THE PEACE-OFFERING. 75 

drinking in lessons of truth and grace warm from 
the great Teacher's lips, or exulting amid the stu- 
pendous scenery of Apocalyptic visions. He is Paul, 
caught up to the third heaven, lost in the contempla- 
tion of things which man may not utter. He is Ste- 
phen, gazing into the gates of glory upon the Son 
of God in his celestial home, where the angels attend 
upon him. He is Simeon, ready to depart in peace, 
for his eyes have seen God's salvation. He is Elijah 
in the bright chariots of the Almighty, ascending 
without knowing the bitterness of death. 

Along with these, are the gifts and graces of a pre- 
sent redemption. Though penitently sensible of his 
sins, Christ has borne their penalty for him, and he 
stands justified before his Lord. Though according 
to his earthly nature he is very weak, and blind, and 
erring, he has grace to help in every time of need, 
the Spirit to enlighten him, and the truth to guide 
him. The burden that once weighed upon his con- 
science is gone. The apprehensions of dread with 
which he once anticipated death and the judgment, 
have been hushed to peace by the soothing voice of 
his Savior. His heart, once so unruly and corrupt, 
has been brought into subjection, released from the 
reign of cruel passion, and fashioned to the Spirit of 
Jesus. Though once an alien and a stranger, he is 
now a member of the family of heaven, a Son of God, 
and an heir of eternal life. Though penniless here, 
he has treasures which shall never perish, reserved 
for him on high. Though friendless here, he has a 
home and friends to whom he is going, to be for ever 
at rest. Though a sufferer here, he is accumulating 
thereby " a far more exceeding and eternal weight 
of glory." He is in the goodly fellowship of the 



76 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

saints ; he is in the noble army of the martyrs, he is 
united with the glorious company of the apostles ; 
he is allied to angelic orders ; he is a Son of the ever- 
living God. 

And beyond all present experiences, he is author- 
ized to look forward to still higher and greater things 
in the future. The present is only his seed-time, 
which is yet to yield an unspeakable and eternal 
harvest. His Redeemer has gone to prepare a place 
for him, the glories of which cannot now be conceived. 
Let the earthly house of this tabernacle be dis- 
solved ; he has a building of God, a house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens. Even his body, 
now so full of aches, and ills, and symptoms of de- 
cay, shall be touched with the healing hand of God's 
Almightiness, and fashioned into a glorious and un- 
fading tenement. He is a pilgrim now ; but he is on 
his way to an eternal rest. The dust of earth is on 
him now ; but it soon shall be brushed off, that he 
may shine as an undying star of light. Lifting up 
his eyes, and pointing away beyond the sky, he says, 
with tears of joy, — 

" Yonder's my house and portion fair ; 
My treasure and my heart are there — 
And my abiding home 1" 

And everlasting love and power are pledged by the 
oath of God to bring him safely to that "home," 
where the last sorrow shall be over, the last tear 
dried, and the last taint of sin and folly for ever 
washed away. 

Oh ! how happy are they, who their Savior obey, 
And have laid up their treasures above ! 

what tongue can express, the sweet comfort and peace, 
Of a soul in its earliest love ! 



THE PEACE-OFFERING. 77 

the rapturous height, of that holy delight, 

Which we feel in the life-giving blood ! 
Of the Savior possessed, we are perfectly blest, 

As if filled with the fulness of God. 

Such., then, is the Christian's feast of joy and thank- 
fulness, as symbolized by the ancient peace-offering. 
Indulge me yet with a few inferential observations, 
and I will leave you to your own reflections. 

And first, let me say, that this subject entirely 
does away with all ground for that common feeling 
on the part of non-Christian people, that to be reli- 
gious and good would be an abridgment of their 
comforts and their joys. It is not so. To be gloomy, 
ever sighing, ever dull, is not piety. Joining one's- 
self to Jesus, is not like joining a nunnery, or a total 
casting away of all the pleasures and enjoyments of 
life. ""Wisdom's ways are pleasantness, and all her 
paths are peace." The Bible requires nothing mor- 
bid or morose. Christ demands nothing incompatible 
with the highest possible earthly good. His whole 
system breathes peace, joy, cheerfulness, and love. 
If religion were that leaden and sombre thing which 
deadens and paralyses every gush of youthful feeling 
into a stupid and lifeless monotony, it would be un- 
fitted for many, and could hardly be sustained as of 
God. But the Savior never meant to graft the de- 
mure gravity of age upon the laughing brow of 
childhood and youth. The natural temper of young 
people is proverbially joyous and cheerful. Un- 
touched as yet by the cares and sorrows of life, it 
belongs to their years to be buoyant, sunny, and gay 
in their spirits. Youth is the period of glee. God 
himself has made it so. Nor was religion ever meant 
to make it otherwise, or to tie down the young heart 
7 * 



78 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

to solemn cant or slavish, bondage. It was intended 
to moderate youthful lust, intemperance, and vanity. 
It forbids wild and unreasonable excesses. It draws 
the check-reins upon idolatrous extravagance. It 
will not allow levity to be carried on to madness, or 
pleasure to "degenerate into impurity, or the gay heart 
to rush on without a balance for boisterous exuber- 
ance. But it does not disallow the common joys of 
life. With the rest of its offerings, it presents its 
feast of gladness. No, no ; we do not ask you to 
cease to be happy, when we ask you to be pious and 
good. "We only ask you to cease sinning, and by 
ceasing to sin, to cease sowing for a harvest of inevi- 
table misery. 

Finally, let us be admonished how incongruous it 
is for Christians to be all the time sad, sorrowing, 
and desponding. Who have so much cause for cheer- 
fulness and joy as they ? God is their Father ; Christ 
is their faithful Savior ; heaven is their covenanted 
home ; and why should they go bowed down with 
gloom ? The commonest birds will sing when the 
sun shineth ; and the ugliest weeds will stretch up 
their arms, and spread open some pleasant flower 
when the summer is around them ; and why should 
we be depressed when the radiance of celestial love 
is flowing down upon us, and everything invites to 
joyousness and praise. Ask thyself, dejected dis- 
ciple — "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and 
why art thou disquieted within me ? Hope thou in 
God : for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of 
my countenance and my God!" Jesus says, "Let 
not thy heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." 
The word of Jehovah is, " Let them that put their 
trust in the Lord rejoice ; let them ever shout for joy." 



THE PEACE-OFFERING. 79 

"Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing 
aloud; let the high praises of God be in their 
mouths." "Let Israel rejoice in Him that made 
him, let the children of Zion be joyful in their King." 
"Let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before 
God ; yea, let them exceedingly rejoice." " Sing unto 
God, sing praises to his name ; extol Him that rideth 
upon the heavens." 

And now, let glory be to the Father, and to the 
Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the begin- 
ning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. 
Amen. 



FIFTH LECTURE. 

THE SIN AND TRESPASS OFFERINGS. 

LEV. CHAPTERS IV. V. VI. 

It has been very correctly observed, that, in doc- 
trinal substance, the first three chapters of this book 
closely resemble the first chapter of first John. They 
portray the universal sinfulness of mankind, and 
point to the only remedy for sin, and set forth that 
" eternal life" which was manifested in Christ Jesus, 
and declare unto us the way of peace, "that our joy 
might be full." 

But not less do the chapters now before us resemble 
the second chapter of that epistle. If the first three 
were meant to show the way up to communion with 
God, and to the fulness of joy in Christ Jesus, the 
succeeding three were written "that we sin not, 
because our sins are forgiven us for his sake." If 
the former present the sinner justified, sanctified, 
and happy in believing ; these now, with equal beauty 
and clearness, exhibit him in what appertains to a 
life thus consecrated to the Lord. And as we have 
seen the offender in humble confession and penitence 
laying his hand upon the head of the atoning Lamb, 
and thereby obtaining release from his past sins ; 
then gratefully offering himself a living sacrifice in 
return for his deliverance; then joining with the 
pure in a rich feast upon the provisions of redeeming 
love ; we now are called upon to contemplate him in 

(80) 



SIN AND TRESPASS OFFERINGS. 81 

connection with those weaknesses and infirmities 
which still cling to him even in his justified and con- 
secrated estate. 

With all the blessed experiences which have thus 
far come under review, man is still a dweller in the 
flesh, surrounded by a perverse and vexatious world. 
Though pardon has been obtained, and sin is de- 
throned in his heart, he has not yet clean escaped 
from all its relics, influences, and effects. A soul in 
the first raptures of reconciliation, and filled with 
the enthusiasm of a new-born zeal, is prone to think 
that now the victory is complete. It is so full of 
God's glory and the Savior's love, that it can see no 
lack, and no possibility of coming down again to 
sin. It sometimes occurs in Christian experience, 
that G-od brings us so near to him, and into such 
heavenliness of fellowship with himself and his Son, 
that we feel ourselves quite beyond all the power of 
evil or temptation, and incapable of those bad affec- 
tions which have so often sullied our peace. When 
the ancient Hebrews had gotten safely out of the 
land of their oppression ; when they saw the strength 
and pride of their haughty pursuers overwhelmed 
in the sea ; when the living thought first came thrill- 
ing through them, that now they were free ; it woke 
up their joyous exultations. " Then sang Moses and 
the children of Israel, saying, I will sing unto the 
Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse 
and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." It was 
all right. The occasion called for it. But their 
troubles were not all over yet. Some that now over- 
flowed with gladness, would very soon murmur in 
bitter complaint. Pharoah and his hosts were gone ; 
but Amalek remained. The hard masters of Egypt 

F 



82 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

were gone ; but a Korah, Dathan, and Abirim, were 
among themselves. The tasks of the brick-yards 
had been left behind, but the guile and treachery of 
Balak were before. They had been triumphantly 
delivered ; but as yet they were by no means near 
or settled in their final rest. And so with the man 
rejoicing in his first experiences of the redeeming 
grace of God. He may feel as if heaven itself had 
come down to him, or as if no powers of death or 
hell could ever shake his faith, or cast a suspicion on 
his love ; but he is nothing but a poor frail erring 
child with all. To his burnt-offering for past guilt, 
and his meat-offering of personal consecration, and 
his peace-offering of communion with God, he must 
yet add his sin-offering for failings through igno- 
rance, and his trespass-offering for his defections in 
charity. 

I. There are, then, some lingering defilements and 
trespasses adhering to man, even though he be justi- 
fied, consecrated, and in fellowship with God. This 
is the first point of doctrine which I gather from the 
chapters now before us. The most firm and con- 
scientious Christian has roots of evil still remaining 
in him, though there may be times and seasons when 
their existence is neither felt nor suspected. By the 
converting grace of God, and the renewing power of 
the Spirit, the dominion of sin is broken in every 
believer's soul, and its tyrannous sway completely 
overthrown, and now and then may seem entirely 
dead. He may be so much under the influence of 
faith, and so absorbed with things divine and eternal, 
as not to feel or know that there is a treacherous 
rebel in his heart. He may be so fully taken up now 
with God, and his love in Christ, as to be quite be- 



SIN AND TRESPASS OFFERINGS. 83 

yond all temptation to transgress. But there never 
yet was " a day when the sons of God came to pre- 
sent themselves before the Lord, but Satan came also 
among them ;" nor a mere man so holy, but when 
he would do good evil was present with him. Let 
him be a Moses in the mount, with his face radiant 
from divine communings, and joyfully pressing the 
tables of the law to his bosom; when he comes 
down to the camp, he shall find strange feelings stir- 
ring in his heart, and a chance if that law is not 
dropped and broken before he has had time to think. 
Let him be that man of TJz, who, in the sunny days 
of his prosperity, " was perfect and upright, and one 
that feared God and eschewed evil;" the dark night 
of his trial shall move him to curse the day of his 
birth, and he shall yet have reason to abhor himself, 
and repent in dust and ashes. Let him be that rapt 
apostle caught up into the midst of heaven ; no 
sooner shall he touch the earth again, but a vexatious 
thorn is in his flesh, and sharp contentions with 
brethren spring up to mar the picture of a perfect 
love, and Paul himself is left to lament that he had 
not yet attained — that he is not yet perfect. With 
all his efforts, prayers, and joys, the best Christian is 
still very faulty. 

Many estimable Christians hold a different doc- 
trine ; and I would be glad to agree with them if I 
could. But having listened often to their conversa- 
tions, and read their books, I have found nothing in 
them, or in their arguments, to convince me in their 
favor. They are honest, no doubt, but they are mis- 
taken. God's commandment is exceeding broad and 
holy. It is the only rule which the angels know, or 
by which seraphs are so excellent and good. And 



84 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 






to suppose that law completely fulfilled in the heart 
or life of any mortal, seems to me a great degrada- 
tion of it, and a putting of the goodness of earth on 
an equality with the goodness of heaven. Christ 
has taught us to pray daily, " forgive us our tres- 
passes;" but why continue praying for forgiveness, 
if we have not continual trespasses to he forgiven ? 
I know and preach that " the blood of Jesus Christ 
cleanseth from all sin." That is a precious truth to 
me. But did he not continue a priest for ever, daily 
presenting his atoning blood anew in our behalf, we 
should most certainly come into condemnation. It 
is only because "he continueth ever," that he is 
"able to save them to the uttermost that come unto 
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make interces- 
sion for them." If he did not ever live to make 
intercession for us, we could not stand for a single 
day. The reason that we have a character for inno- 
cence before God, is, that our " sins are not imputed 
to us." Christ's blood comes in between them and 
the law, and by virtue of that blood we are held as 
innocent. But were it not for that blood availing 
afresh for us every day, we certainly should be very 
obnoxious to condemnation, and could not be saved. 
And the fact that Christ continues in heaven ever 
offering and pleading his atoning blood in our behalf 
— ever interceding for us — is proof that we conti- 
nually need the application of his cleansing blood, 
and are not perfectly sinless. If we were not con- 
tinual sinners, we would not need this perpetual 
atonement. 

I know, too, that "whosoever is born of God doth 
not commit sin, and cannot sin, because he is born 
of God." But it is the intention, the motive, the 



SIN AND TRESPASS OFFERINGS. 85 

principle, of the man, that is here in contemplation, 
and not the actual perfection of the life. He has 
in him the seed of holiness. He has been recovered 
by grace to the dominion of virtue. He has put off 
the old man with his deeds. All his aims, purposes 
and desires are directed to obedience and purity. 
He has been renewed in the spirit of his mind. He 
has become deadened to sin, so that he cannot live 
any longer therein. It is contrary to his whole feel- 
ing, wish, and calling. He can no longer consent 
to it for a moment. His new experiences have made 
him its perpetual foe. And in this sense it is impos- 
sible for a Christian to sin. The whole bent of his 
renewed nature is antagonistic to all known wrong. 
If it is not so, he is not born of God. But this does 
not prove, that, contrary to his purpose and efforts, 
no imperfections shall ever occur in his life, or no 
defects attach to his endeavors. A man may run 
from a gathering storm, and be terribly shocked at 
-the idea of being caught in it, and exert all his wis- 
dom and his power to escape it, and yet may be made 
to feel its force; and though a good man's whole 
being is averse to sin, and he can have no more fel- 
lowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, it can 
argue nothing against a remaining weakness sub- 
jecting him every day to lacks and failings which 
would undo him but for the pleadings of his Savior's 
blood. Though his face and heart are fully turned 
away from sin, it proves nothing against his liability 
to be " overtaken by a fault." ISTay, this same apostle, 
in this same Epistle, says, "If we say that we have 
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in 
us." Yea, "what is man that he should be clean? 
or he that is born of a woman, that he should be 
8 



86 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

righteous ?" Let men speculate as they please, when 
we come to inspect earthly goodness in the light of 
heaven, we shall find ourselves just where the apostle 
places us when he says, "In many things we all 
offend." 

II. And these lingering imperfections and defects 
are real sins. This is the second point of doctrine 
which I deduce from these chapters. People are 
prone to think that an offence committed uninten- 
tionally or unawares, cannot incur the charge of guilt. 
Men do not scruple to plead their ignorance, their 
infirmities, their natural and habitual propensities, 
in excuse for their misdeeds. But the law of God 
acknowledges no such plea. "If a soul shall sin 
through ignorance against any of the command- 
ments," he must bring his sin-offering, and atone for 
his sin by blood, the same as for those old wilful 
transgressions in which he once lived. If a man 
becomes contaminated, even though it should be 
through accident, or commits any of those things 
which are forbidden, even " though he wist it not, 
yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity;" and 
can only be cleansed and delivered by atoning blood. 
So saith the Lord, and no man can annul it. 

There is a school of moralists, who make a differ- 
ence between sins. They tell us that while some are 
mortal, and carry after them the certain judgment 
of God, others are only venial — mere imperfections, 
to which no serious guilt attaches. But, I find no 
such distinctions in the word of God. Sin is sin ; 
and guilt is a part of its essential nature wherever 
found. True, in their effects upon the perpetrator, 
or in their influences upon society, some are worse 
than others ; but in their relations to God and his 



SIN AND TRESPASS OFFERINGS. 87 

holy law, they are always the same, always evil, ab- 
horrent, and damning. Men may talk of "little 
sins;" but Grod never does. Let them be never so 
little, they are big enough to sink the soul to ever- 
lasting death, if uncancelled by the Savior's blood. 
It is not in all respects as wicked to sin only in igno- 
rance and infirmity, as to sin knowingly, intention- 
ally, and presumptuously; but to sin in any way, 
needs to be atoned for by the shedding of blood. 
All sin therefore is intrinsically mortal. And there 
is not a Christian on earth, however eminent, who 
does not, every day he lives, accumulate guilt enough 
to ruin him for ever, were it not that he has " an 
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the right- 
eous." 

All this is very forcibly portrayed in the rites of 
the sin and trespass-offerings now under considera- 
tion. As to sins of ignorance, if the guilty party 
were a priest, he was to offer "a young bullock;" if 
a judge or magistrate, he was to offer " a kid of the 
goats," of the male kind; if one of "the common 
people," he was to offer " a kid of the goats," of the 
female kind, or a lamb. And so in the case of tres- 
l pass, the guilty one was to offer "a lamb or kid;" 
j or, if poor, two doves or young pigeons ; or, if poor, 
i and unable to procure the doves or pigeons, an 
offering of fine flour might be substituted as the 
representative of the animal or bird which could not 
be procured, but was to be looked upon, not as a 
meat-offering, but asa" sin-offering," the same as if 
it were a living animal. These offerings were then 
to be slain and burned, and their blood presented as 
the only adequate expiation. And from the nature 
of the expiation we are to learn God's estimate of 



05 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

the offence. Though committed in ignorance, or no 
more than a trespass, or an accidental contamination, 
it required blood and sacrifice to cover it. 

Now, I can easily conceive how the taste of some 
may be offended with these continual displays of 
blood, blood, blood. And there are men of a skep- 
tical turn of mind who rail out against all this cere- 
monial slaughter and burning, as unworthy of God 
and repulsive to man. They are terribly shocked at 
it, and cast away from them the book that prescribes 
it, and the God who could sanction it. But, how is 
it, that these same men are such enthusiastic ad- 
mirers of the polished taste and refined attainments 
of the Greeks and Eomans of other days ? How is 
it, that they can dwell with so much complacency 
and approbation upon the philosophies and religions 
of ancient heathendom ? They had similar sacrifices 
and like bloody rites, yet with vastly more barbarous 
concomitants and offensive ceremonies. This ap- 
pears in every chapter of their history, and on almost 
every page of their poetry. People can tolerate, and 
admire, and gather instruction from this ; but as soon 
as the hand and authority of God are manifested in 
such bloody ordinances, then they are disgusted, and 
the thing becomes intolerable. Of this one thing, be 
assured, that it is not so much the rites themselves 
with which such people are offended, as God in those 
rites. "The carnal mind is enmity against God," 
and wherever he shows his holy authority, there is 
an immediate revulsion of that carnal mind, and it 
draws back, and reviles, and blasphemes. Let the 
heart be right, and God's appointments will be right, 
beautiful, impressive, and good. It is in man that 
the fault lies, and not in God, or in the appointments 



SIN AND TRESPASS OFFERINGS. 89 

of God. Though there be a constant recurrence of 
blood, it is full of mighty significance. It tells of 
guilt, and of death and ruin merited by that guilt. 
It tells of our condemnation, and of the way in 
which that condemnation is removed in Christ Jesus. 
It shows us the awful penalty which we have incurred,' 
and how our Savior undertook to bear it in his own 
body on the tree. And when we see Jehovah annexing 
these bloody expiations to sins of ignorance, acci- 
dental contaminations, and trespasses against the law 
of charity, we are to see and know that these are 
really sins from which we never could be saved, were 
it not for the ever efficacious blood of that Lamb of 
God who was slain for us. 

III. There is also a noticeable gradation in these 
sins of ignorance. Though they are all sins, so that 
blood only can atone for them, they are yet more 
serious and offensive in some persons than in others. 
"When a priest or ruler sinned in this way, a more 
valuable sacrifice was required than when one of the 
common people thus sinned. The more prominent 
and exalted the person offending, the more flagrant 
was the offence. 

There is a very serious augmentation of responsi- 
bility going along with high station. A public man 
is like a town clock ; upon which much more depends 
than upon private time-pieces. When a man's watch 
gets wrong, it is only he that is misled ; but when 
the great public clock gets out of the way, multi- 
tudes are deceived, and a whole community is led 
astray or thrown into confusion. Hence the necessity 
for greater care and attention with reference to the 
one than to the other. Every official personage is 
responsible beyond a common individual, for the 
8* 



90 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

reason, and to the extent, that his office or station 
represents others beside himself. A parent is respon- 
sible beyond a child, becanse he acts for, influences, 
and represents the child. A minister is responsible 
beyond one of his congregation, because he in a 
measure acts for, influences, and represents those 
who attend upon his ministrations. A judge or ruler 
is responsible beyond the ordinary subject, because 
he acts for, influences, and represents those who are 
under his jurisdiction and legislation. And among 
the Jews, the priest was the most responsible of all, 
because he was the most exalted man of the whole 
people, acting for, influencing, and representing them 
to a greater extent, and in more important matters, 
than any other official of the nation. An error in 
him, was the same as an error of the whole nation, 
for he represented the whole nation ; and so his fault 
could only be atoned for by a sacrifice which was 
required in case of the whole nation's sin. 

A sin in a public man is a sin to the sinning of 
others ; and it is peculiarly aggravated, first, because 
it is presumed that he understands his office and 
knows its duties, before entering upon it ; and, se- 
cond, because it is a precedent and pattern which will 
be copied by others, and be thought right because it 
has the sanction of greatness. A public character is 
like the "copy" set by a schoolmaster at the head of 
the page, which feebler hands will imitate to every 
letter, and curve, and line, and dot ; and if the copy 
is wrong, of course all the imitations are wrong, and 
that by reason of the mistake of him who set the 
copy. The master is thus accountable for the error 
of the pupil, the parent for the child, the preacher 
for the church member, the ruler for the subject, the 



SIN AND TEESPASS OFFEEINGS. 91 

priest for the people. And a sin in high life is a 
greater offence than the same sort of sin in the 
humbler walks. It is more mischievous in its effects, 
it is committed under more solemn responsibilities, 
and it requires a heavier atonement. 

Some people are very feverish and ambitious for 
place. They wish to be conspicuous, influential, and 
prominent. They covet ofhce. They long for power. 
They will do almost anything for an exalted position. 
But they seldom sufficiently consider the increased 
responsibilities involved in the fulfilment of their 
desires. It is the mere flare and glitter of station 
by which they are captivated, without laying to heart 
the additional jeopardy which it imposes. And there 
are some who seem to consider office a full license 
for them to do just as they please. They forget with 
what a jealous eye God looks upon those invested 
with public influence and trust. A misstep in them 
is no common offence in his sight. Abuse of power, 
is with him the worst of all abuses — a sin more ag- 
gravated than ordinary sins. "What in other men 
might be considered trivial, in them is held to a most 
rigid accountability. Let public men consider this, 
and tremble when they lay hold of the helm of 
power. Office is a solemn and awful thing. It is a 
momentous trust. It is a fearful charge. And it is 
to be entered into reverently, discreetly, and in the 
fear of God. Over its portals are written this inscrip- 
tion, in letters of flame : Let him who enters here 
beware, for a jealous Gfod is within. And if any would 
enter upon office, let him read that inscription, and 
tread softly, lest it should prove to him the gateway 
of death and perdition. 

IV. But whilst we are treating of these defects and 



92 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

failings which are to be found in Christian life, let us 
not overlook the principal point of the text, that there 
is an adequate remedy for them. 

I once heard of a man, a bishop I believe, who 
gave it as his objection to the protestant religion, that 
it made no. provision for sins after baptism ; and with 
this as one of his principal grounds, he became a 
pervert to Eomanism. Deluded man ! How had 
Satan blinded his eyes to the truth ! We have a remedy 
for sins after baptism, the same as for sins before 
baptism. We have a great atoning sacrifice, pro- 
vided of God, to which we may ever betake ourselves 
in penitence, and find a full salvation. For so it is 
written — "If any man sin, we have an advocate with 
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the 
propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also 
for the sins of the whole world." When the cleansed 
and consecrated Jew sinned through ignorance after 
his consecration ; or through accident, inadvertance, 
or infirmity, became contaminated after his cleansing ; 
there was a plain way for him to get back again to 
his former purity ; and that way was essentially the 
same as the way by which he secured forgiveness at 
the first. He had to return to the same bloody sacri- 
fice which he had offered in the first instance. The 
chief of the herd or of the fiock had to die and burn, 
and have its blood put upon the horns of the altar. 
Its fat, and its kidneys, and the caul of its liver, had 
to be laid upon the fire ; and every remaining part 
had to be carried forth without the camp unto a clean 
place, and consumed there in the place of ashes. 
"What did all this mean ? " The blood of bulls and 
of goats could not make him that did the service 
perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;" wherefore, 






SIN AND TRESPASS OFFERINGS. 93 

then, were they required to be thus slain? The 
apostle has given the explanation. "It was a figure 
for the time then present" — "a shadow of good 
things to come." It pointed to a holier sanctification 
"with better sacrifices than these." It was G-od's 
own prefiguration of the way of forgiveness in Christ. 
For just as "the bodies of those beasts are burned 
without the camp, Jesus also, that he might sanctify 
the people with his own blood, suffered without the 
gate." Away from the holy place, driven from the 
mercy-seat, beyond the bounds of the holy city, on 
Calvary's hill, outcast and forsaken, the criminal's 
veil hung over him for three hours of darkness, a 
spectacle to all that passed by, his face more marred 
than the face of any man, the fires kindled around 
our holy Lamb, and flashed through him, and drank 
up all his substance, and left him a mere pile of 
ashes in Joseph's tomb in "the place of ashes" — 
the ashes of the dead. "Let us go forth therefore 
unto him without the camp," says the apostle. Let 
us contemplate him in those tragic scenes. Let us 
view him in those awful fires as suffering for us. Let 
us penitently stretch forth the hand of faith, and lay 
it on his devoted head. Let us behold in those mys- 
terious transactions the payment of our debts, and 
the meeting of our penalties. This is enough. If 
we have sinned, this secures our forgiveness. If we 
have offended, this cancels all the guilt. If we are 
defiled, this purifies us, and makes us clean. If we 
are deficient and unworthy, this covers whatever 
may be lacking. Here we have pardon, not only 
for this once, to cancel the past debt, and then leave 
us to manage the future as best we can ; but daily, 
hourly, continual pardon — a pardon that ever flows 



94 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 






without interruption or exhaustion — a pardon that 
is ever fresh and ever availing, as often as the sin- 
burdened soul will sue for it, and cast itself anew 
upon its Savior. 

"No provision for sins after baptism!" How 
ridiculous ! - How false 1 How little must he know 
of the resources of those who take the Bible for their 
guide, who can give to such a thought one moment's 
entertainment ! What ! are we to be told that Christ's 
infinite atonement is that shallow thing, that the 
first draw of the sinner upon it quite exhausts its 
virtue, and leaves all subsequent sins to be disposed 
of by the wicked farce of the confessional, the fires 
of purgatory, and the mumbled prayers of man-made 
priests ? Are we to be told that Christ " ever liveth 
to make intercession," and for this reason "is able 
to save unto the uttermost," and yet that there is 
not virtue enough in his mediation to cover a few 
sins of ignorance and infirmity in Christian life? 
Are we to behold the priest of a typical economy, 
with the mere blood of beasts upon his fingers, 
obtaining a full remission for the Jew, and yet be- 
lieve that our great High-priest in heaven, bearing 
the scars of deadly wounds endured for us, is unable 
to secure mercy for those struggling saints of God, 
who, in hours of surprise or weakness become en- 
tangled again in guilt, of which they heartily repented 
the moment it was done? 0, foolish bishop, how 
earnest thou to forget, that " the blood of Jesus Christ 
eleanseth from all sinV Give us this, and we want 
no pontifical absolutions, no penal inflictions, no 
purgatorial fires, to make us acceptable to God. Let 
us but know that Jesus has entered heaven as our 
surety and advocate, to appear for us, and to plead 



SIN AND TRESPASS OFFERINGS. 95 

our cause there, and it is enough to satisfy us for 
ever. 

Five bleeding wounds he bears, 

Received on Calvary ; 
They pour effectual prayers, 

They strongly speak for me ; 
Forgive him, forgive, they cry, 
Nor let that ransomed sinner die. 

The Father hears him pray, 

His dear anointed One ; 
He cannot turn away, 

Cannot refuse his Son ; 
His Spirit answers to the blood, 
And tells us we are born of God. 

From this general subject we are now led to re- 
flect : — 

First, what a holy thing is God's law ! It finds 
guilt, not only in the sins which are deliberate, 
known, and presumptuous ; but even in the mistakes 
of ignorance, the contaminations of accident, and 
the short-comings of the holiest saints. Where our 
dull reason would not at all suspect anything crimi- 
nal, it detects and marks iniquity, for which the 
death of Jesus alone can atone. Yet, this law is but 
a transcript of G-od himself. How awful then is his 
holiness ! How terrible is his jealousy of sin ! Who 
are the prayerless and the wicked, that they should 
stand in his sight, when even the failings that cleave 
to his best saints are so offensive to him as only to 
be purged by blood ! "We may think lightly of sin, 
and sometimes esteem it sweet ; but not so does it 
look in the wounds and agonies of Jesus. It has an 
ugliness, even in its lightest forms, which shows unto 
heaven, and wakens indignation in the very heart 



96 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

of God. He cannot look upon it with the least 
degree of allowance. Well may the seraphs sing, 
"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts!" 

Second, what reason have we to cultivate the 
modest virtues of Christian life — to be moderate in 
our pretensions, humble in our spirit, charitable in 
our censures, forgiving under injuries, lenient to- 
wards offenders, pungent in our self-examinations, 
hearty in our repentance, watchful in our walk, con- 
stant in our prayers, and deeply anxious to be firmly 
rooted and grounded in the true faith ? I care not 
how good we may be, we are still great offenders, 
and much worse than we think we are. Every time 
we search and weigh ourselves, we ascertain new 
deficiencies, and sins come to light where we had 
not supposed them to exist. And if we could just 
see ourselves as God sees us, and estimate our good- 
ness just as it stands in the eye of his pure law, we 
should behold a spectacle which would sicken us 
perhaps to death. Every day but adds new vile- 
ness to us, which calls for new forgiveness. 

Finally, how precious is the mercy of God in Christ 
Jesus ! We sin every day. " We do nothing well. 
If we pray, it is with cold and wandering thoughts ; 
if we hear, it is with distracted and forgetful minds ; 
we are continually surprised, continually overtaken, 
continually turned aside by the current of temptation, 
that runs so strong against us, when perhaps we 
cannot convict ourselves of one indulged or delibe- 
rate sin." And even at the best, our righteousness 
is nothing, and our imperfections very great. But 
we are not without recourse. If we daily and hourly 
sin, there is provided a daily and hourly forgiveness. 
Our sacrifice has been slain. Our Priest is ever 



SIN AND TRESPASS OFFERINGS. 97 

in the temple holding up the blood that was shed 
for us. "¥e have an Advocate with the Father," 
whose intercessions never cease. Our Lamb is 
ever before God. Those dying agonies of his can 
never fail to move Jehovah's pity. And if we have 
unwittingly or inadvertently offended, we have only 
to recur to his offering on Calvary, and his sufferings 
without the gate, and vengeance is stayed, forgive- 
ness is complete, and we are still the children and 
heirs of God. O, precious, precious mercy that we 
poor sinners have in Jesus ! We need only come in 
sight of the cross, and the load is removed. If we 
only look upon the face of that meek sufferer, as our 
Lord, our sins, however great or many, are remem- 
bered against us no more. Hither, then, let us ever 
come, and kneel, and look, and pray, and trust. In 
the shadow of the cross let us build our tabernacle, 
and say, " Here will I dwell ." 

Here I'll sit — forever viewing, 

Mercy streaming in his blood : 
Precious drops, my soul bedewing, 

Plead and claim my peace with God. 



SIXTH LECTUBE. 

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LAW OF OFFERINGS. 



LEV. CHAPTEBS VI. VII. 



We begin, this evening, in the midst of the sixth 
chapter. The first seven verses belong to the chapter 
which precedes, and ought not to have been severed 
from their proper place. They treat of the same 
subject with that chapter, whilst the eighth verse 
commences a new strain of discourse and quite an- 
other theme. 

I need hardly say, that the Bible was not originally 
divided into chapters and verses. In the early Chris- 
tian ages, the sacred text had no divisions but the 
various books, and those books consisting of short 
unbroken paragraphs, according to the sense of the 
writer, or the subject of discourse. All beyond this 
has been the work of editors, publishers and printers, 
of comparatively modern times, who had no claims 
to inspiration, or any superior knowledge ; and who, 
in some instances, have made sad havoc with the 
sense of the sacred record. As furnishing facilities 
for reference, it is well that we have these divisions ; 
and their usefulness in this respect may compensate 
for their occasional mutilations, and dislocations, and 
obscurations of the holy record. But there is no 
crime in correcting them, or in calling attention to 
the plain mistakes which have been made in them. 

(98) 



SUPPLEMENT ON OFFERINGS. 99 

We do no irreverence to the inspired word by paying 
no attention to them. It is merely saying that we 
have as good a right to read the Bible our way, as 
the monk Arlott, or the Canterbury bishop Langton, 
of the thirteenth century, or the Jew, Mordecai 
Nathan of the fifteenth, or the French printer, Robert 
Stephen, of the sixteenth, had to read it their way. 
And amid all the increased light and learning of our 
day, it would be strange if the devout biblical student 
and critic now could not read it as well as any of the 
monks or even bishops of the dark ages, or any 
printer who lived in 1551. 

Leaving the first seven verses, then, as properly 
belonging to the preceding chapter, our present ob- 
servations will embrace the remaining part of the 
sixth, on to the close of the seventh, chapter, which 
concludes the first grand division of this book. All 
that precedes relates to the law of offerings as appli- 
cable to "the children of Israel" in general; what 
we have here, is a sort of supplement to that law, 
intended for the direction of the priests, and addressed 
specifically to "Aaron and his sons." It is a section 
of God's word which does not seem to be of much 
account, or to promise anything very edifying to us. 
And yet, we ought not to despise it, or to pass it as 
totally barren. All Scripture has its use, and may 
yield us profit under proper culture. True philoso- 
phy never neglects or despises anything which God 
has made ; and true religion will cast nothing aside 
as unworthy of its attention and study, which God 
has said. Let us see, then, what we may learn from 
this supplement to the law of offerings. 

I. Yerses 8 to 14, treat of the whole burnt-offering, 
or holocaust, and tell how Aaron and his sons were 



100 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 






to proceed in presenting it. All true Christians are 
priests, ordained to show forth the praises of him 
who hath called them out of darkness into his mar- 
vellous light. And what was required of these 
ancient priests in offering the sacrifices of the law, 
is the type of what is required of us all in the offering 
of those " spiritual sacrifices, acceptahle to God by 
Jesus Christ." As the ancient priests were required 
to attire themselves in pure linen garments, so John 
tells us " the fine linen is the righteousness of saints," 
in which we must needs be arrayed in order to be 
accepted priests of God, or to serve in holy things at 
his altars. As Aaron and his sons were carefully to 
gather and bear forth the ashes of the burnt-offering, 
so must we take up Christ, crucified and consumed 
to dust as our holocaust, and bear him with us in 
purity and reverence. As they were never to allow 
the fire to go out upon the altar, so are we ever to 
see the holiness and justice of God flaming un quench- 
ably against all sin, and consuming forever whatso- 
ever may have sin to answer for. 

II. Verses 14 to 24, give directions concerning the 
second kind of offerings. Whether everything here 
detailed is typical, I know not. As there is often 
more in the antitype than in the type, so there is 
oftentimes more in the type than in the antitype. 
The two do not always quadrate in every minute and 
unimportant particular. It is not necessary that they 
should. The main drift is clear. God means that 
we should be priests, and that with our other offer- 
ings should be eucharistic offerings. We are to 
" sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare 
his works with rejoicing." And, in so doing, a 



SUPPLEMENT ON OFFEKINGS. 101 

goodly portion shall fall to us from the altar at which 
we serve, on which we may satisfy ourselves forever. 

III. Verses- 24 to 30, inclusive, describe things to 
be observed in the sin-offering. There is here a re- 
markable provision. " "Whatsoever shall touch the 
flesh thereof shall be holy : and when there is sprin- 
kled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou 
shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy 
place. But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden 
shall be broken : and if it be sodden in a brazen pot, 
it shall be both scoured and rinsed in water." Well 
may it be said, " How awful is atoning blood ! Even 
things without life, such as garments, are held in 
dreadful sacredness if this blood touch them. !N"o 
wonder, then, that this earth, on which fell the blood 
of the Son of God, has a sacredness in the eye of 
God. It must be set apart for holy ends, since the 
blood of Jesus has wet its soil. And as the earthen 
vessel, within which the sacrifice was offered, must 
be broken, and not used for any meaner end again ; 
so must this earth be decomposed and new-moulded, 
for it must be kept for the use of him whose sacrifice 
was offered there. And as the brazen vessel must be 
rinsed and scoured, so must this earth be freed from 
all that dims its beauty, and be set apart for holy 
ends. It must be purified and reserved for holy pur- 
poses, for the blood of Jesus has dropped upon it, 
and made it more sacred than any spot, except where 
he himself dwells. My holy mountain, is the name 
it gets from himself, when he is telling how he means 
to cleanse it for his own use." (Bonar in loc.) 

IV. Chap. 7 : 1-7. We next have sundry direc- 
tions for the trespass offering. These differ very 
little from the requirements in case of the sin-offer- 

9* 



102 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

ing, with which the trespass offering is very closely 
related. Both were intended as remedies for the 
sins of infirmity attending npon life still subject to 
the trials and temptations of this world. One point 
of difference between them was in the mode of dis- 
posing of the blood. Both were bloody offerings, 
but the blood in one case was to be put on the four 
horns of the altar, and in the other it was to be 
sprinkled " round about upon the altar." In all these 
rites there was an ample display of blood. The 
Psalmist sings, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, 
O Lord of hosts I" But the appearance of those 
sacred courts was very different from what we might 
naturally fancy upon hearing such expressions. Ap- 
proaching those admirable courts, our attention would 
have been attracted on all sides with marks of blood. 
Before the altar, blood ; on the horns of the altar, 
blood ; in the midst of the altar, blood ; on its top, at 
its base, on its sides, blood ; and tracked along into 
the deepest interior of the tabernacle, blood ! Such 
a display would be calculated, some might think, to 
make us exclaim, "How sanguinary /" rather than 
" How amiable /" But he who has learned to look at 
things interiorly, and to see in that blood the letting 
forth of the forgiveness and grace of God to lost 
sinners, will know how to appreciate it. The preach- 
ing of Christ crucified is to the Jews a stumbling 
block, and to the Greeks foolishness ; but to those 
who know what sin is, and what is implied in re- 
demption from it, will ever hail the announcement 
as the sublimest tidings that ever fell upon the ear 
of earth. " The natural man perceiveth not the 
things of the Spirit of God ; they are foolishness unto 



SUPPLEMENT ON OFFERINGS. 103 

liim, neither can he know them, for they are spirit- 
ually discerned." 

Y. The remaining portions of the seventh chapter 
go back over much the same ground again, present- 
ing sundry directions with reference to the various 
kinds of offerings. It would seem as if the Lord 
could not weary in repeating and explaining his will 
respecting these ancient sacrificial rites. They are 
typical displays of a work upon which his great heart 
has been let forth in universal glory. They tell of 
his love for sinners, and still more of his love and 
interest in that well-beloved Son whom these figures 
were meant to set forth, and that it is grateful 
to him to linger among them, and to dwell upon 
them. What a shame ought this to be to those pro- 
fessing Christians, who are hoping for immortality 
and heaven through Christ, and yet weary in one 
hour, and often show disgust, with the theme of his 
immolation for their redemption ! All heaven is 
moved at the spectacle of Calvary, and angels bend 
from their lofty thrones to inquire into it ; yet man, 
for whose good it was displayed, and for whom it was 
meant to secure eternal life, often turns away from it 
as insipid, spiritless, and disgusting ! "What a com- 
mentary on earthly taste and wisdom ! 

YI. In the 8th verse you will find a singular regu- 
lation. You will remember that the victim for the 
burnt-offering was to have its skin taken off. It is 
here said that this skin was to belong to the priest 
who officiated at the offering. God says, "the priest 
shall have to himself the skin of the burnt-offering." 
Our minds at once revert to those early days of man, 
when our first parents received from the Lord's hand 
"coats of skins," in place of the poor fig-leaf aprons 



104 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

which their own hands had made. The first animals 
slain for man were slain in sacrifice ; and the skins 
with which Adam and Eve covered their nakedness, 
were the skins of the victims slaughtered by them 
by order of the Lord, as types of the great atone- 
ment to be made in the fulness of time. As Adam 
was the first sinner upon earth, so he was the first 
priest upon earth, who ofiiciated in the offering of 
sacrifices for sin. And as a priest, God gave him the 
skins of the victims to clothe him. And so Christ 
has covering for every naked soul called to serve at 
his altars — a good and effective covering, obtained 
from his own sacrifice. What saith the Savior : " Buy 
of me white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, 
and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear." 
This is that "wedding garment," and "clothing of 
broidered work," and "covering of silk," and "rai- 
ment of fine linen," which is the portion of all those 
who serve the Lord as his true priests. The very 
altar they serve shall furnish them all necessary 
covering, that they may be clothed with everlasting 
honor. "Blessed is he that keepeth his garments, 
lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." (Rev. 
16 : 15.) 

VII. There is another significant provision in the 
15th verse, where the Lord says of the peace-offering, 
that it must be eaten the same day it is made, other- 
wise it would vitiate the offering, and no benefit 
would result from it. " The flesh of the sacrifice of 
his peace-offerings for thanksgiving shall he eaten the 
same day that it is offered ; he shall not leave any of 
it until morning." The feast of salvation in Jesus 
Christ has its day. In that day we must eat of it, if 
ever we are to eat of it availingly. In the general, 



SUPPLEMENT ON OFFERINGS. 105 

that clay is the day of Gospel tidings. In a more 
restricted view, it is the day of man's natural life. 
To most people the door of salvation stands open till 
their last moments. There is nothing to prevent 
them from finding Jesus a ready Savior even in the 
hour of death. But to some, this day is even shorter 
than life. There are times of visitation and days of 
grace which some sin away with so stout an arm and 
so obdurate a heart, that their doom is sealed long 
before the sun of life sets. If ever, then, we are to 
come to the joys of redemption, we must come and 
eat the feast ere the day closes. What may be left 
for the morning shall be unavailing and full of con- 
demnation. This is the day of our peace-offering, 
and to-day we must eat it. 

There are no acts of pardon passed, 
In the cold grave to which we haste ; 
But darkness, death, and black despair, 
Reign in eternal silence there. 

Bestir thee, then, sinner, and haste to thy sacred 
altar-feast. Thy sacrifice has been slain, and thy 
portion is ready. This is thy day, waste it not. 
•" Behold, now is the accepted time ! Behold, now 
is the day of salvation !" 

VIII. But there is, in the 20th and 21st verses, an 
additional requirement, well worthy of our attention. 
God says, "the soul that eateth of the flesh of the 
sacrifice of peace-offerings, having Ms uncleanness 
upon Mm, even that soul shall be cut off from his 
people." The Gospel is a holy feast. It cannot be 
shared in by those who continue in their impurities. 
He that would enjoy it, must be careful to depart 
from iniquity. Only "the meek shall eat and be 



106 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

satisfied;" that is, such as humbly surrender them- 
selves to God's requirements, and are really made up 
to forsake all known sin. There is a morality in 
religion, as well as faith and ecstasy. Grace does 
not make void the law. And faith without works is 
a dead and useless faith. Though we are redeemed 
by blood, and justified gratuitously by believing in 
Christ; yet, that redemption obligates us just as 
much, and still more, to a life of virtue and moral 
uprightness, than the law itself. " "We are not under 
law," as those are under it for whom Christ's medi- 
ation does not avail; but still, we "are under law to 
Christ," and bound through him to a practical holi- 
ness, the pattern of which he has given in his own 
person and life. If his blood has purged us, it is, 
that we might " serve the living God." If "we are 
God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus," it is 
" unto good works, which God hath before ordained 
that we should walk in them." A pure life must 
needs go along with a good hope. " Faith, if it hath 
not works, is dead, being alone." "A good tree 
cannot produce evil fruit." And for a man to be- 
lieve himself an accepted guest at the Gospel feast 
while living in wilful, deliberate, and known sin, is 
a miserable antinomian delusion. The plain Gospel 
truth, upon this subject, is, that, although we cannot 
be saved by our works alone, we certainly dare not 
hope to be saved without them, or without being 
heartily and effectually made up to do our best. 
Wherever grace is effective, a well-ordered morality 
must necessarily follow. And all this idea of justi- 
fication without repentance — of religion without 
reformation — -of forgiveness without purity — of faith 



SUPPLEMENT ON OFFERINGS. 107 

without morality — is a libel upon the economy of 
God, and a Satanic cheat to ruin immortal souls. 

Nor need we be in doubt as to what true Christian 
purity or holiness is. Many foolish fancies have been 
indulged on this point, and many well-meaning peo- 
ple have gone far astray. The reason has been, that 
men listened more to human philosophizing and 
sickly romance, than to the oracles of God. Some 
have supposed the highest moral excellence to con- 
sist in seclusion from the cares and business of the 
common world — in retirement to caves and dens of 
the rocks to spend life in fastings, vigils, prayers, and 
meditations. There was a time when he who spent 
his days in the cell of the hermit, had his name 
written in the calendar, his praises chanted in 
the churches, and his bones carefully gathered after 
his death and laid up in golden altars, whither 
mitred bishops and high officials came kneeling to 
touch them in solemn devotion. And there still are 
those who locate the highest sanctity in the celibate, 
and point for man's sublimest goodness to the clois- 
ters of monks and the prisons of nuns. But this 
also is delusion. God does not mean that we should 
be morose and misanthropic eremites, but bold and 
active confronters of the trials and evils of life — men 
and women who shall act well our parts in the com- 
mon relations in which he has created man, and ear- 
nest copyists of the example of that Holy One "who 
went about doing good." Jesus did not flee to the 
solitudes, and keep aloof from intercourse with men. 
He remained among his fellows. He visited their 
habitations ; he gave attention to their tears and dis- 
tresses ; he wept with them when they wept ; he re- 
joiced with them when they rejoiced. He came 



108 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

"not to be ministered unto, but to minister." His 
whole life was one ever-blooming charity. The 
atmosphere he breathed was love. And the spirit 
that was in the Master, is that which constitutes the 
most heavenly goodness in his followers. "Love thy 
brother;' u Love thy neighbor as thyself;'" " Do unto 
others as ye would that others should do unto you ;" these 
are the comprehensive precepts of Gospel morality. 
" He that saith he is in light, and hateth his brother, 
is in darkness even until now." "He that loveth 
not his brother abideth in death." " Love is of God ; 
and every one that loveth is born of God, and know- 
eth God." An injury done to a fellow man, is an 
injury done to one's own soul and immortal hopes; 
and "to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it 
not, to him it is sin." There is no higher moral ex- 
cellence than a pervading charity. "Love is the 
fulfilling of the law." There may be gifts of tongues, 
equal to those of Pentecost; but it is only empty 
sound and tinkling, without charity. There may be 
gifts of understanding, forecast, and great know- 
ledge; but it is nothing without charity. There 
may be faith enough to take up mountains from their 
seats ; but it is useless without charity. There may 
be self-sacrifice even to beggary and martyrdom ; but 
if the pure spirit of love and beneficence be wanting 
there, it can profit nothing. Whether there be 
prophesying, it shall fail ; whether there be tongues, 
they shall cease ; whether there be knowledge, it 
shall vanish away ; but charity abideth for ever. It 
is the grand substance of all virtue. It is the essence 
of the law of all worlds and all time. It is said of 
the good old apostle John, the man who had lain the 
closest on the Savior's heart, that when aged, blind, 



SUPPLEMENT ON OFFERINGS. 109 

and feeble, he would still have himself carried to the 
assemblies of the Church ; and when he could say 
nothing more, he would still tremulously repeat to 
them these words : "Little children! love one another." 
"Little children ! love one another." And with- 
out purging out the old uncleanness of malice and 
wickedness, whatever else we may boast of, we shall 
be cut off from the Lord's people. "For this ye 
know," says the apostle, "that no whoremonger, 
nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an 
idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of 
Christ and of God." (Eph. v. 5.) 

IX. There is another specification, in the 29th and 
30th verses, which is suggestive of another very im- 
portant fact in Christianity. The Lord said, "He 
that offereth the sacrifice of his peace-offerings unto 
the Lord, shall bring his oblation : . . his own hands 
shall bring the offerings" The worshipper could not 
do the work by proxy. He had to come in his own 
person, and bring his offerings in "his own hands." 
Indeed, this is a feature running through all these 
offerings. If any one wished to have the benefit of 
the holocaust, he had, "of his own voluntary will," 
to bring the offering to the door of the tabernacle, 
and there put his own hand upon its head, before it 
could be " accepted for him to make an atonement 
for him." If any one desired the advantages of the 
meat-offering, he had himself to bring the flour or 
first fruits, and put the oil and frankincense upon it, 
and give it over into the hands of the priests. If 
any one wished to enjoy a peace-offering, he was re- 
quired himself to present the victim, and lay his 
hand upon its head, and kill it at the door of the 
tabernacle, and eat the portion which fell to him. 
10 



110 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

And so in the case of the sin and trespass offerings. 
The man had to go for himself, and present the sacri- 
fice himself, and lay his hand upon its head, and 
confess, and eat, all for himself. 

There can be no transfer of religious obligations — 
no substitution in the performance of religious duties. 
Of all things, piety is one of the most intensely per- 
sonal. It is the intercourse of the individual soul 
with its Maker ; just as much as if there were no 
other beings in existence. As each must eat, and 
die, and be judged for him or herself, so each must 
repent, and believe, and be religious for him or her- 
self. I do not depreciate the importance of social 
relations, compacts and organizations. I believe 
that religion is very greatly dependent upon them. 
Had we never been placed in a Christian land, or 
been related to Christian parents and friends, or been 
brought into contact with the Christian Church, we 
never could have become Christians. But when it 
comes to the real activities and experiences of piety, 
they relate as directly to ourselves as individuals as 
if we alone existed. Association must place the 
means of piety around us, and may greatly dispose 
us to be pious ; but the making of that piety oui 
own, is a work which never can be done without our 
personal concurrence and activity. 

It is a great thing to have pious friends. The 
prayers of a godly mother are like soft silken cords 
around the heart of her son, which draw upon and 
check him in his wildest wanderings and his maddest 
passion. The rude sailor on the deck, or the hardened 
culprit in his cell, is melted and subdued at the mere 
remembrance of a sainted mother. The soldier who 
stands up with steeled nerves upon the field of com- 



SUPPLEMENT ON OFFERINGS. Ill 

bat, unshaken by the fury and thunder of deadly 
battle, is touched to tears when he comes to muse 
upon the pressure of his good mother's hand upon 
his head, as he knelt by her knee and said — " Our 
Father, who art in heaven !" But, though that mo- 
ther be as good as the virgin mother of our Lord — 
though she nightly bathe her pillow with tears of 
supplication for her boy — though her daily prayers 
go up for him fervent and pure as those which dropt 
from the lone Jesus in the Mount of his devotions, 
— it shall avail nothing to the salvation of her erring 
child, unless he himself shall move to turn from his 
follies, to bend in penitence, and to submit himself 
to God. True religion demands one's personal and 
individual action — the putting forth of one's own 
hand. No man or angel can do it for us. Preachers 
and pious friends may prompt, direct, encourage and 
pray for us, but that is all. They can do nothing 
more. IsTo minister, or priest, or bishop, or pope, or 
saint on earth, or virgin in heaven, not even a mo- 
ther with all her prayers and undying solicitude, can 
so unlock the door of heaven to any man as to ex- 
empt him from the necessity of going through the 
work of devotion and godliness for himself. We 
ourselves must pray, and set out to obey the calls of 
mercy, and come to the door of the sanctuary meekly 
trusting in the Savior's mediation, or all the ser- 
mons, masses, supplications, and godly associations 
in the world cannot save us. We must individually 
and for ourselves believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
or be lost. There is no other alternative. 

A very expressive gesture was required of the Jew 
to signify all this. He had to put his hand upon the 
head of his sacrifice when he presented it. He thereby 



112 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

acknowledged his sin, and expressed his personal de- 
pendence upon that sacrifice. The Hebrew word is 
still more suggestive. " He shall lean his hand upon 
the head of the offering." It is the same word used 
by the Psalmist, where he says, " Thy wrath leaneih 
hard upon me." Sin is a burden. It is ready to 
crush him upon whom it is. And with this burden 
the sinner is to lean upon his sacrifice for ease. He 
could not lean with another man's hand; he must 
use "his own hand." The ceremonial worshipper 
used the outward hand ; we are to use the hand of 
the soul, which is faith. Much is said about faith ; 
but when we come to extricate it from the entangle- 
ments of metaphysical discussion, it is the simplest 
of all our mental operations. You have important 
business which will involve you without prompt and 
careful attention. Sickness overtakes you, and unfits 
you to do what is required. A friend engages to take 
your place, and to attend to it in your name. You 
scan his competency and integrity, and are willing to 
trust him. You agree that he shall act and check, 
receipt, accept, and sign in your place, the same as 
if it were yourself. He attends to the business. He 
returns to you with tidings that everything is safe 
and turned to your great advantage. You are con- 
vinced that he is a truthful man, and does not mean 
to deceive you. You take his report as reality. And 
with a heart overflowing with gratitude, you rest 
from your anxieties on that subject. And what is it 
that you have done ? You have simply believed, and 
done with reference to your earthly friend and 
business what is required in the securement of your 
eternal good. We are all spiritually sick. Great 
interests are in jeopardy by reason of our disability. 



SUPPLEMENT ON OFFERINGS. 113 

Jesus is the friend who agrees to take our place, and 
to manage all for our benefit. "What, then, is faith? 
It is the persuasion that Christ is competent to do 
what he proposes. It is our hearty consent that he 
shall act for us in the case. It is our confidence in 
his fidelity to the interests which we have placed in 
his hands. It is our belief of the report he brings us 
that all is safe and well if we only abide by what he 
has done. This is faith. It is this that identifies a 
man with Christ, and makes him an heir of salvation. 
But it is a personal act — the most intensely personal. 
No other being could perform that act for us. "We 
must perform it ourselves, or we never can be saved. 
X. Thus far, we have been contemplating man as 
an individual. We have been looking only at the 
isolated offerer, and his individual relations to his 
offering. But, as there are numerous individuals 
continually passing through the same experiences, 
there is also a social aspect presented as they come 
thus to be related to each other. Nor was this wholly 
overlooked in these typical arrangements. The tres- 
pass-offering, which is the last in the list or series, 
contemplates the worshipper for the most part as a 
social being — as one of a common brotherhood of 
men of equal rights with himself. It provides for 
sins growing out of social relations — for breaches of 
the law of charity, injuries done to a neighbor, faith- 
lessness in partnerships and trusts, &c. It thus brings 
up the idea of community. This comes in very beau- 
tifully at the conclusion of the law of offerings. It 
is like the adding up of a column of figures, which 
gives us the ultimate product of the various items, 
and preserves the logical connection of these types 
unbroken. So many individual sinners, personally 
10* H 



114 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 



applying and appropriating the great remedy for sin, 
and undergoing all the hallowing experiences adum- 
brated in what we have thus far had under review, 
necessarily form a congregation of justified, sancti- 
fied, and holy people. And thus, step after step, 
through the blood of offering after offering, we have 
finally reached a point, at which the whole doctrine 
of the Church, its nature and composition, bursts full- 
orbed upon our view. 

There is much inquiry and discussion now-a-days 
about the Church. People are wading through tomes 
of patristic writings, and studying creeds, and drag- 
ging through the dark places of history, to find out 
what, and which, and where, is the Church. Did 
they consult their Bibles more, and the Fathers and 
their own imaginations less, they would come to a 
truer, if not speedier, conclusion. The Church is sim- 
ply the congregation of the justified and clean. Bishops 
do not make the Church ; liturgies do not make the 
Church ; particular holy days or ceremonies do not 
make the Church ; but God makes the Church, by 
absolving men through faith in his Son Jesus Christ, 
and joining them into a common union by a common 
trust and obedience in a common Savior. 

Some have very singular ways of inquiring whether 
they are members of the true Church. The moment 
they think of the question, they begin to revolve in 
their minds what denomination they belong to, how 
its ministry is constituted, what sort of a history it 
has, and what specific modes of service they have 
submitted to. But all this does not touch or even 
approach the vital point. The inquiry is not whether 
we are Lutherans, Episcopalians, Catholics, or Bap- 
tists, or which of these can make out the best de- 






SUPPLEMENT ON OFFERINGS. 115 

nominational claim. The point is, Have we pre- 
sented onr holocaust, by coming to Christ and leaning 
upon him by a confiding trust as the propitiation for 
our sins ? Have we presented our meat-offering in 
the grateful surrender of ourselves a living sacrifice 
unto God, to meet, and obey, and abide by his will ? 
Have we presented our peace-offering, by making 
Jesus and his salvation the great feast and rejoicing 
of our souls ? Have we made our sin and tre pass 
offerings, by resting upon him and his perpetual 
intercessions as our only availing righteousness and 
support amid the infirmities of life ? If so, we belong 
to the congregation of the justified, and have come 
to the general assembly and Church of the first-born, 
whose names are written in heaven ; and if not so, 
we are yet " aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, 
and strangers to the covenants of promise, having 
no hope, and without God in the world," be our 
denominational relations what they may. Simon the 
sorcerer belonged to the Apostolic Church, and re- 
ceived baptism from apostolic hands, yet had he 
" neither part nor lot in this matter." The reason is 
given : his heart was " not right in the sight of God." 
It is not forms and sacraments then, but real heart- 
union with Christ our Savior, by which men come 
into the true brotherhood of saints, and have mem- 
bership in the true Church. Outward acknowledg- 
ment, of course, goes along. The Jew could not 
bring and offer his sacrifices in secret ; no more can 
a real Christian escape the confession of Christ before 
men. "No man lighteth a candle and putteth it 
under a bushel, but on a candlestick;" but it is not 
the putting of it on the candlestick that lights it, or 
that makes it a candle. It is personal contact with 



116 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

Jesus, and the moulding of our whole nature to his 
own, that puts us into the holy fellowship of those 
who are "the light of the world." 

What a beautiful thing, then, is the real Church ! 
There all are brothers by a sacred interior birth to 
holiness and good. There all are one, though seas 
roll and mountains rise between them — linked to- 
gether by invisible but indissoluble bonds. In all 
that great congregation, there is not one but reflects 
the image of Jesus, and holds citizenship in heaven. 
Blessed assembly ! " How goodly are thy tents, 
Jacob, and thy tabernacles, Israel ! As the valleys 
are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, 
as the trees of lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted, 
and as cedars beside the waters !" 



SEVENTH LECTUKE. 

AARON AND HIS CONSECRATION. 

LEV. CHAP. VIII. 

In entering upon this chapter, we pass from the 
consideration of sacred things, to sacred persons — 
from offerings, to the priests who were to officiate at 
their presentation. All religions are founded upon 
some sort of priesthood. All people, of whom we 
have any record, have had their priests. To say 
nothing of Adam, Ah el, and Noah, we read in the 
days of Abraham of " Melchisedek, priest of the 
Most High God;" and a few generations after him, 
of one Potipherah, priest of On, whose daughter 
Pharoah thought a fit match for his chief favorite, 
Joseph, whom he had made ruler of all his house. 
After these, we read of Jethro, priest of Midian, who 
became the father-in-law of the illustrious Moses. 
Then came the long line of Aaron's order, as insti- 
tuted in the chapter before us. Nor need I speak 
of the Hierophantse of Egypt, the Magi of Persia, 
the Sacerdotes of Greece and Pome, the Druids of 
Gaul, the Caliphs, and Mufties, and various religious 
orders of other nations, to show how universally this 
system of priesthood, or attorneyship in sacred things, 
has pervaded all ages. Indeed, it is essential to 
religion. It enters into the very substance of inter- 
communication between God and fallen man. Of 

(117) 



118 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 



this no one can doubt who understands God, or our 
moral and religious relations to him. 

Man is not now what he was originally made. His 
whole nature has come under a disastrous eclipse, a 
gangrenous disturbance, a deep disorder. He has 
turned aside from his Maker. He has strayed as a 
sheep into dangerous wilds. He has become greatly 
alienated from goodness. He has been betrayed into 
wicked rebellion against his rightful Sovereign. He 
has become guilty, corrupt, ignorant, faint, and 
afraid. He is not in a condition to be acceptable to 
God ; he has lost his affection for God ; he has sunk 
away from a right knowledge of God ; he knows not 
how to get back into communion with God; and 
what spiritual consciousness still adheres to him, 
serves only to make him dread and fly the further 
from God. This picture is not too highly colored. 
It exhibits the real estate of man apart from priestly 
mediations. And on the other hand, God cannot 
desert his own law, or be untrue to his holiness, 
justice, and word, by conniving at sin, or looking 
complacently upon rebellion. A righteous sovereign 
may feel for and pity his convicts, but he dare have 
no fellowship with them without compromising his 
own character for righteousness. Here, then, is a 
chasm between man and his God. The fallen one 
goes on sinning, and the wronged Sovereign must 
go on maintaining his righteous administrations. 
Man cannot of himself come to God, and is only 
terrified when he thinks of his presence; and God 
cannot sacrifice his sovereignty or tarnish his throne 
by advancing with favors to those who continue to 
trample everything sacred under their feet. The 
whole bent and drift of man's native affections are 



'. 



AARON AND HIS CONSECRATION. 119 

against God, and the whole divine nature and com- 
mitments are against all thus opposed to what is 
good. It is not in man to turn or change himself; 
and God cannot reverse his own immutability, or 
retire from his eternal constitution of right and holi- 
ness. Some have thought that the combined influ- 
ence of nature, conscience, and reason, is competent 
in the end to bring man to the knowledge of the 
truth, and to restore him to right affections for his 
Maker. But no instances of this have ever occurred. 
Amid all the varieties of circumstances in which 
man has lived for six thousand years, no case has 
ever come to light of such a transformation by the 
forces of nature alone. And God, in his word, de- 
clares that no such case ever has occurred, or ever 
can occur. " They that are in the flesh cannot please 
Grod." Jesus says, "No man cometh unto the Father, 
but by me." The mere powers and workings of 
nature, then, can recover- no man from sin. jSTay, 
even when men had a right knowledge of God, these 
natural forces were not competent so much as to 
keep that knowledge alive in them. For "when 
they knew God, professing themselves to be wise, 
they became fools, and changed the glory of the 
uncorruptible God into an image made like to cor- 
ruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, 
and creeping things ; changed the truth of God into 
a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more 
than the Creator." This is Scripture, and it is his- 
tory. Nor is it difficult to trace the philosophy of it. 
It requires only a little attention and analysis of our 
commonest and most inward impressions and expe- 
riences under the workings of nature. 

"No man hath seen God at anytime;" and the 



120 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

power which is unseen is terrible. Fancy trembles 
before its own picture, and superstition clothes it 
with dark imagery. The voice of the thunder is 
awful ; but not so awful as the conception of that 
angry Being who sits in mysterious concealment, and 
gives it all its energy. In such sketches of the im- 
agination, fear is sure to predominate. "We gather 
an impression of nature's God, from those scenes in 
which nature threatens and looks most dreadful. 
With all the parade of scholastic demonstrations, the 
theology of every man's actual feelings is as here 
represented. God is most present to our imagina- 
tions when nature is most terrific — when winter with 
its mighty elements sweeps the forest of its leaves, 
and the rushing of the storm is heard upon our 
windows, and man flees to cover himself from the 
desolation that walketh over the face of the earth. 
From the dreadfulness of nature's elements, we feel 
how dreadful must be that mysterious and unseen 
Being who sits behind the elements he has formed, 
and gives birth and movement to all things, Our 
souls are awed and frightened at the mystery in which 
he is shrouded. Terror and wrath become the mantle 
in which our fancies robe him. And the outcry of 
conscience is, " Let not Q-od speak with us, lest we die /" 
Instead of being drawn to him we are repulsed. 
Like Adam, we are impelled to seek for some place 
to hide from his presence. And so the natural and 
inevitable results of these awakenings and prompt- 
ings of nature are, to induce us to worship God only 
in symbols and representations which soon must 
assume our own corrupt attributes, or else to drive 
us to expel all thought of him from our minds, and 
resign to a dark and grovelling atheism. Hence 



AARON AND HIS CONSECRATION. 121 

nature cannot bring us into peaceful relations to the 
true God. (See Chalmers on Job, 9 : 33.) 

How, then, may God and man be brought harmo- 
niously together ? How shall man have the veil of 
terrific and repellant mystery lifted off of Deity, that 
he may have hope in returning to his Maker; and 
how shall God show himself in any other form to 
rebels and traitors ? There is but one way. There 
must be a Days-man — a spiritual attorney — between 
the two, who can lay his hands upon both. There 
must be some competent one to mediate from God to 
sinners, and from sinners to God. There must be 
some great officer (of the character shadowed forth 
in the various orders of priesthood), who shall, in 
his peculiar qualifications and office, bring God down 
to the right apprehension of men, and bring men up 
in some acceptable form to God. The idea of priest 
hood, then, and the exercise of priestly functions, 
enter into the very heart and substance of religion. 
Paul, in his masterly appeal to the Hebrews, takes it 
as one of those deep essential principles upon which 
his whole argument is built. It is presupposed in 
the whole framework of the Christian system. It is 
the root trunk, and sap of the tree of Life — the very 
spine, marrow and soul of the Gospel. 

Previous to the institution of this Levitical ritual, 
the offering of gifts and sacrifices for sins, and the 
priestly functions in general, were much like prayer 
— the right and duty of all, without much distinc- 
tion. They were not specifically entrusted and con- 
fined to any one order or class of men. Cain and 
Abel, even in the lifetime of their father, seem to 
have officiated for themselves. So far as one per- 
formed sacerdotal duty for another, perhaps more 
11 



122 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

from the natural proprieties of the case than from 
any divine regulation, the work usually devolved 
upon the father of the family, or the prince of the 
tribe. £Toah and Job officiated for their respective 
families, and Melchisedek was a king as well as a 
priest ; and may have been a priest, in part at least, 
because he was a king. But, unless Melchisedek, of 
whom we know but little, is to be regarded as an 
exception, there were no divinely constituted priest- 
hoods — no established sacerdotal orders, previous to 
the appointment and consecration of Aaron and his 
sons. And the fact that this office was at first free 
to all, and then gradually narrowed down, first to the 
father or chief, then to the tribe of Levi and the 
house of Aaron, and then to the great High Priest 
whom all former priesthoods foreshadowed, may have 
been designed to show, that the longer the race went 
on, the more unworthy and unfit man became to ap- 
proach God. The moral history of mankind, from 
beginning to end, presents the appearance of an in- 
verted arch, bendirjg downward from Adam to Christ, 
and then gradually upward again to the time when 
holiness shall once more be the inheritance of earth. 
Adam began the work of degrading his species. In 
Eden, the balance between good and evil began to 
dip the wrong way. Sin became more facile and 
deep-colored with every generation; till the scale 
came heavily down. Depravity was at its depths, 
and all the hopes of the world settled upon Jesus. 

There is no authentic priesthood now, but that 
which has its centre in the " great High Priest that 
is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God." 
He alone of all earth's generations — he alone of all 
the heavenly principalities — is the one selected, 



AARON AND HIS CONSECRATION. 123 

ordained, invested and set forth to mediate between 
God and man, to effect at-one-ment between the 
righteous Sovereign and the guilty rebel. More holy 
than an angel, more Divine than a seraph, more 
deeply pervaded with Godhead than anything that 
ever took form, and yet more tenderly human than 
any mere man, the world has looked for him, the 
ages have prophesied of him, and in the fulness of time 
God sent him, to fill the breach between earth and 
heaven, to bring the unknown God to man's under- 
standing and affection, and to bring man up to God's 
acceptance and approval. For this he was conceived 
by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, put to 
death under Pontius Pilate, raised from the dead by 
Almighty power, received up to heaven amid the 
devout acclaim of angels, and now appears in the 
presence of God for us to the wonderment of celestial 
orders, and to the everlasting redemption of those 
who believe. And from the nature of things there 
is no real priesthood but his, and no true priest but 
himself. Whatever other priesthoods God may have 
appointed, or approved, or even tolerated, resolve 
themselves into this one, and have been or are only 
prophecies, types, pictures, foreshadowings, or sub- 
ordinate distributions from this sublime and only 
original. 

Entering, then, upon a survey of the Levitical 
priesthood, we must take with us the thought, that 
we are about to look upon what was meant to set 
forth a higher priesthood than that of Aaron. It is 
not so much with the Levites that we have to do, as 
with Christ, of whom these Levites were the living 
hieroglyphics. In the earthly we are to see the 
heavenly. From the typical we are to rise to the 



124 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

contemplation of the real. Aaron and his sons con- 
stitute the subject, and yet, Jesus and his people are 
the theme. 

The chapter before us gives a description of the 
ceremonies by which the priests were consecrated, 
and formally inducted into their high office. These 
ceremonies were, for the most part, the same for 
Aaron and his sons ; but it is the case of the high- 
priest more particularly that I propose to present 
now. The case of the common priests is reserved 
for another occasion. 

I. Fixing attention, then, upon Aaron, as about to 
be set apart for the high-priest-hood, the first thing I 
notice is the publicity with which the consecration 
was performed. The whole congregation of Israel 
had to be gathered together to witness the solemn 
transaction. The creation of so high an officer for 
the whole people, required to be done in open day- 
light, and in the view of all concerned. And the 
scene presented an imposing spectacle. In the back- 
ground stood Mount Sinai in solemn silence, terrible 
yet in the imaginations of the people, for the fires 
that had so lately enveloped it, and the holy law that 
came thundering down its gorges. In long bending 
lines through the valley at its base, stood the white 
tents of Israel. In the centre hung the cloudy pillar, 
stretching high into the heavens, its shadow resting 
upon the holy tabernacle. The princes of Jacob were 
there arranged about the door of the sanctuary in 
devout expectancy. In view of them all came Aaron 
and his sons, and Moses, the man of God, thoughtful 
and solemn, and half-trembling in their steps. The 
very breezes seemed to hush their soft whispers, and 
the sun himself to stand still in the sky. A breath- 



AARON AND HIS CONSECRATION. 125 

lessuess was upon all the witnessing hosts ; for the 
priests of the Lord were entering into their great 
office ! 

But, through this scene in the Hebrew camp, I 
ascend at once to the contemplation of a more glo- 
rious spectacle. There rises up before me, in awful 
grandeur, the mount of Almighty Holiness. Around 
it, in seried orders, lie the princedoms and princi- 
palities of heaven. Myriads of holy ones, who 
looked on when the world was made, stand in com- 
pact throngs to watch in solemn silence the develop- 
ment of that new thought which has been thrown 
into their celestial contemplations. The four-and- 
twenty elders, with their crowns of gold glittering in 
the sublime effulgence of the great white throne, 
wait in impressive seriousness ; when out upon the 
glassy sea, spanned by emerald bows, and radiant in 
jewelry of Godhead, steps the blessed Son, saying, 

"Lo! I COME TO DO THY WILL, GOD !" "I WILL 
REDEEM THEM FROM DEATH I I WILL RANSOM THEM EROM 

the power oe the grave !" and the Father from his 
everlasting seat lifts up his hand in solemn oath and 
says, " Thou art a priest forever after the order 
of Melchisedek !" "What saith the Scripture? 
" Christ glorified not himself to be made an high 
priest;" — he did not ambitiously or clandestinely 
obtrude himself into this momentous office — "but 
was called of God, as was Aaron;' and all the con- 
gregation of heaven were witnesses to his rightful 
investiture and consecration. 

H. The first thing to be done after the appearance 

of Aaron before the congregation as the designated 

priest, was to wash him with water. There has 

always been more or less washing connected with 

11* 



126 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

priesthood. The Egyptian priests washed twice a 
day in water ; the Greeks had their sprinklings ; the 
Romans also had numerous lustrations; and the 
Church of Rome still retains a shadow of the old 
rites in the use made of what is called "holy water." 
All this I take to be the distorted remains of what 
God himself appointed at the institution of his 
ancient ritual, and the consecration of his ancient 
priesthood. They are the traditional relics of what 
had a glorious significance once, but having neither 
dignity nor meaning in any of their modern associ- 
ations. The water applied to Aaron was a token of 
cleansing and purity, without which no man can ap- 
proach the holy and sin-hating God. It was meant 
to impress the idea of cleanness in him who was to 
act as an attorney between man and his Maker. 
And Aaron in his outward purification shows us our 
great High-priest in the sublime purity which he 
brought to his mediation-work. Jesus "was holy, 
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." It was 
partly in token of this pureness and separation that 
John, as another Moses, baptized him in Jordan vale. 
He needed no cleansing. He always was pure. But, 
to indicate this purity, and to enter upon his priest- 
hood in the regular way, he consented to be washed, 
as was Aaron. His baptism was part of his priestly 
installation. It is one of the items of proof that he 
meant to be and is a priest. And it was done in the 
presence of thousands of Israel. 

III. The next thing done for Aaron's consecration 
was, the putting of the sacred vestments upon him. 
The priest was to be endowed with grace and glory 
as well as purity. He had to be clothed in right- 
eousness and crirt for active obedience. He needed 



AARON AND HIS CONSECRATION. 127 

covering for those shoulders, which were to bear the 
people's guilt, and for that brow, which was to be 
lifted up in confession. A rich, curious, graceful, 
and imposing suit was therefore provided for him — 
a suit which received its pattern from God, and was 
made according to specific divine directions. 

The first article was "the coat," elsewhere called 
"the ephod;" a sort of frock, thrown over the 
shoulders, and extending down to the ankles, made 
of pure fine linen. This was the innermost part of 
the priest's vestments, It had sleeves to the wrists. 
It was the symbol of grace and righteousness in the 
hidden as well as visible man. 

The next article was "the girdle," a narrow, long 
band or belt of linen, tied around the waist to con- 
fine the ephod close to the body. The priest was 
not only for show, but for service, and all his graces 
and endowments of righteousness were to be held 
subservient to his office. It had to be girded up for 
work. 

A third article was "the robe," or "robe of the 
ephod," a seamless garment, curiously embroidered 
with blue, purple, scarlet, and gold. Its lower border 
was ornamented with a row of red pomegranates 
and little golden bells, encircling the entire robe in 
alternate succession. It was a garment which ex- 
tended from the shoulders to a little below the knees. 
This was a robe altogether peculiar to the High- 
priest. Its tinge was heavenly. It had about it the 
greatest intensity of ornament. And it bespoke an 
exaltation and glory beyond anything worn by com- 
mon priests. 

Next came "the embroidered coat" of fine linen, 



128 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

with sleeves, and extending ah out half the way down 
the skirt of "the rohe of the ephod." 

Over this coat, and wound several times around 
the waist, was "the curious girdle;" a piece of fine 
twined linen, embroidered with blue, purple, scarlet 
and gold, tied in front of the body, with the ends 
left hanging nearly to the feet. 

Then came "the breastplate," with "the Urim 
and Thummim." This was a fabric about nine 
inches square, set with twelve different jewels, large 
and well arranged. Its two upper corners had gold 
rings, by which it was connected with jewelled 
shoulder pieces, with wreathed chains of gold. At 
its lower corners it was fastened to the girdle with 
blue ribbons. The twelve jewels stood for the twelve 
tribes of Israel, and each jewel had upon it the name 
of its tribe. They were the most precious things 
belonging to the priest's attire. They were called 
" Urim and Thummim ;" that is, Lights and Perfec- 
tions. Some say that the law was written upon 
them, and that it was to the law as seated in these 
pure and precious gems, flashing with light and 
glory, that the Psalmist alluded when he said, " the 
law of the Lord is perfect" — "the commandment of 
the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes" This breast- 
plate was at any rate an exceedingly sacred thing, 
glorious in appearance and full of stirring suggestion. 
A thrill of deepening interest must have run through 
the congregation of Israel as they beheld this jew- 
elled heart-piece put upon their priest. 

The seventh item was the putting of "the mitre 
upon his head." This was a kind of turban, made 
of fine linen, somewhat resembling the diadems of 
ancient kings. It was a fit and imposing crown to 



AARON AND HIS CONSECRATION. 129 

the other parts of the priest's dress, and doubtless 
brought a shout of admiration from Israel when they 
saw it adorning the brow of Aaron, fronted as it was 
with a plate of shining gold, in whose glittering 
sheen appeared the solemn inscription — " Holiness 
to the Lord." 

Thus did God direct for the clothing of his ancient 
priest "for glory and for beauty." ~No man can 
approach God uncovered. The very seraphim cover 
their faces and their feet before his terrible majesty. 
And as Aaron was to serve before the Lord in the 
priest's office, this was to be his glorious covering 
when on duty. A noble object he was to look upon 
as he stood that day before the congregation of 
Israel. Fold upon fold of pure linen enveloped 
his person. His breast, and his shoulders, and his 
brows, and even the girdle and hem of his robe, 
blazed with costly jewelry and gems. All native 
deformities were hidden in glory and beauty. 

But, from the picture we lift our thoughts to the 
original. Aaron in his robes and jewels is but an 
earthly type of our great High-Priest arrayed in the 
sublime glories of his everlasting righteousness. 
True, Isaiah says, " he hath no form nor comeliness ; 
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that 
we should desire him." But it is his appearance to 
this world's carnal and perverted taste of which the 
prophet there speaks, and not his appearance to 
minds and hearts capacitated to appreciate him. This 
same prophet elsewhere tells of a vision which he 
himself had of this blessed one. " In the year that 
king Uzziah died," says he, "1 saw the Lord." There 
was no absence of dignity and glory in that vision. 
" A throne, high and lifted up" was there, and upon 

i 



130 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

it sat our royal High-Priest, the mere train or skirt 
of whose glorious robe was like " the fulness of the 
whole earth." Around him stood the seraphim in 
rapt admiration, crying one to another, "Holy, Holy, 
Holy, is the Lord of hosts : the whole earth is 
full of his glory !" until the very door-posts moved 
at the power of their words. It was more than the 
prophet could endure to look upon. He fell down 
upon his face and cried, " Wo is me I for I am undone: 
for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" 
At another time this same prophet, contemplating 
the magnificence of Jesus and his achievements, 
breaks out with the exclamation : " Who is this that 
cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, 
glorious in his apparel, and triumphing in the great- 
ness of his strength?" A glorious High-Priest is 
Jesus. Fold upon fold of glory and beauty encom- 
pass him. "With round upon round of heavenly ex- 
cellency and celestial praise is he girded. Purity, 
and holiness, and power, and grace, and majesty, and 
ten thousand indescribable attractions, cluster upon 
him, and surround him with flames of perfection and 
light, which only the most costly jewelry can typify, 
which angels bend to contemplate, and which arch- 
angels cannot find words competent to express. 
Even the Eternal Father looks on him with delight, 
and says, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased /" Fit is he to draw near to God, and worthy 
of our holy adoration — " chief among ten thousand, 
and the one altogether lovely" — "holy, harmless, 
undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than 
the heavens ; who needeth not like those high-priests 
to offer up sacrifices for his own sins : for the law 
maketh men high-priests which have infirmity ; but 



AARON AND HIS CONSECRATION. 131 

the word of the oath which was since the law, maketh 
the Son [an High-priest], who is perfected for ever- 
more:' (Heb. 7 : 26-28.) 

! could I speak the matchless worth, 
! could I sound the glories forth, 

"Which in my Savior shine ! 
I'd soar and touch the heavenly strings, 
And vie with Gabriel while he sings, 

In notes almost divine. 

IV. The next thing in this impressive service was 
the holy chrism, or the anointing with oil. This was 
not common oil, but the sacred, fragrant, and costly 
compound used only in solemn consecrations. It was 
" precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon 
the beard, even Aaron's beard, and went down to the 
skirts of his garments," enveloping him in aroma as 
grateful to the smell as his garments were to the 
eye. It was the symbol of divine gifts and unction. 
It pointed to that solemn chrism or christing of Jesus, 
by the pouring out upon him of the Holy Spirit and 
energy of God " without measure." Our great High- 
priest was not only washed in Jordan, but he was also 
immediately after solemnly anointed by the visible 
descent of the Spirit upon him. It was that, that 
constituted him the Christ ; that is, the anointed one. 
It was by that unction that he was endowed from on 
high with the rights and powers, with the gifts and 
graces, of his blessed priesthood. From that time 
forward he was installed forever in the sublime office 
of mediatorship between God and man. From that 
time forever, the command of the Father to all the 
children of men is, " Hear ye him." And if the 
anointing of Aaron was a thing to be sung about by 
inspired minstrels, what shall be said of the christing 



132 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

of Jesus and those adorable official powers with which 
it invested him ! "We have read of his wonderful 
gifts of teaching — how the people were astonished 
at his doctrine — how skepticism stood confounded at 
his words — how all Judea was moved by his presence 
— how light, and grace, and blessing gilded and per- 
fumed everything along the paths which he passed — 
how even the children in the streets lifted up their 
voices and shouted " Hosanna !" as he rode by — how 
the poor, and sick, and lame, and blind, and deaf, 
and palsied, and possessed, came crying to him and 
were relieved and healed — how he wrestled with 
Satan in the wilderness, and overcame him, and 
spoiled his dark kingdom — how he invaded even the 
territories of death, and brought back the departed 
to their afflicted friends — how he burst the rocky 
doors of the sepulchre and ascended up in triumph- 
ant power, whilst leaving to his church ample 
gifts of miracle and grace to overcome all earth's 
mighty superstitions, and to tread in the same victo- 
rious path with himself to glory, honor, immortality, 
and eternal life. "We have learned something of the^ 
wondrous might by which he draws men unto him- 
self, and slays the enmity of their hearts, and moulds 
them to a spiritual life, and connects them once more 
with a heavenly commonwealth, and reinstates them 
in the favor of God, and makes his life and teach- 
ings live in them, and endows them with joint-heir- 
ship with himself to an inheritance which is incor- 
ruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away. We have 
read how the Father hath committed all judgment 
to him, that men should honor the Son even as they 
honor the Father, and how he is gone to prepare a 
place for us and will come again to take us to him- 



AARON AND HIS CONSECRATION. 133 

self, that we may live and reign with him in that 
ISTew Jerusalem whose streets are gold, whose gates 
are pearls, whose foundations are jewels, whose 
watchmen are angels, and which blazes forever with 
the glory of God and of the Lamb. Yet, the conse- 
cration, anointing, investiture, and official endow- 
ment for all this was performed and given when the 
Holy Ghost came down upon him on Jordan's banks, 
filling him with his amazing official fulness as the 
Christy the Redeemer of the world. 

Great was the day, the joy was great, 
When the Divine disciples met; 
While on their heads the Spirit came, 
And sat like tongues of cloven flame. 
What gifts, what miracles he gave ! 
What power to give and power to save ! 
Furnished their tongues with wondrous words 
Instead of shields and spears and swords. 

"What glory, then, is to be attached to the blessed 
christing of Jesus, of which these gifts and powers 
to his disciples were only the remote and secondary 
effects ! Blessed, blessed unction of our great High- 
Priest ! 

Y. But still, Christ was not yet "made perfect." 
Moses had yet to mark and sprinkle Aaron with the 
blood of sacrifice ; and, as the Captain of our salva- 
tion, Christ had to be "made perfect through suffer- 
ings." He needed to have upon him the marks of 
blood. And as he was both the sacrifice and the 
priest, he had to give himself to death before he 
could enter the holy place as our availing intercessor. 
We read that " Moses took of the blood, and put it 
upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and upon the 
thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of 
12 



134 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

his right foot. And he took of the anointing oil, 
and of the blood upon the altar, and sprinkled it 
upon Aaron and upon his garments." It was the 
picture of "the blood of Christ, who through the 
Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God," 
marking our great High-priest with the final touches 
of his installation as the Savior of the world. Thus 
" being made perfect, he became the author of eternal 
salvation unto all them that obey him." 

"Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly call- 
ing, consider the Apostle and High-priest of our pro- 
fession, Christ Jesus." Survey him as these ancient 
pictures place him before us. From the heights of 
eternity he looked down upon the breach which sin 
had made between man and God. He saw our 
frailty and helplessness, and pitied us in our misery 
and ruin. And when there was no daysman, he 
stepped forward in the presence of the congregation 
of heaven, and said, " Here am J, send me." The 
Almighty Sovereign answered, "It is done; go thou 
and be a priest for ever. A body have I prepared theeV 
In the fulness of time he came. John, like another 
Moses, was commissioned to wash him for his conse- 
cration. By an unspotted life and an ineffable one- 
ness with Godhead, he was adorned and beautified 
with the sublimest excellence and glory. On the 
banks of the holy river, the christing unction de- 
scended in unmeasured profusion upon him. In the 
hall of judgment, the thorny crown was pressed upon 
his head, and marked his ears with blood. On Cal- 
vary the nails were driven, and brought out the 
crimson drops upon his hands and feet. On the 
cross the victim of the consecration was pierced, 
flayed, disjointed, all its tender parts given to the 



AARON AND HIS CONSECRATION. 135 

fires, and all its substance turned to dust in the 
place of ashes. In the tomb of Joseph, the Spirit, 
mingling with the blood from the altar, brought 
about the final baptism which completed the solemn 
round of his official investiture. And lo ! he stands 
before men and angels a perfect High-priest, "able to 
save unto the uttermost all them that come unto 
God by him." 

Trembling soul, behold thy Redeemer ! This is 
He, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, 
did write. This is He, of whom it was said from 
the beginning, "He shall come." This is that "Branch 
of the Lord, beautiful and glorious, whose name is, 
The Lord our Righteousness." This is He, of 
whom the rejoicing angels said, "Unto you is born 
this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is, 
Christ the Lord" Yea, this is He, of whom the 
expecting Church for ages sang, "He shall come 
down like rain upon the mown grass : as showers 
that water the earth ; in his day shall the righteous 
flourish ; and his name shall endure for ever." And 
let all the congregation fall down at his feet and cry, 
"Blessed be the Lord G-od, the God of Israel, who 
only doeth wondrous things ; blessed be his glorious 
name for ever : and let the whole earth be filled with 
his glory; Amen, and Amen !" 



EIGHTH LECTURE. 

THE CONSECRATION OF AARON'S SONS. 

LEV. CHAP. VIII 

In our comment thus far upon this chapter, we 
have occupied ourselves mostly with the High-priest 
— with Aaron, and the Lord Jesus Christ as repre- 
sented in Aaron. And the High-priesthood, indeed, 
includes the whole priesthood, and everything that 
appertains to the work and office of mediation. But 
it had some inferior and subordinate honors and ser- 
vices, which were distributed among a number of 
associated, lower priests. Aaron was not alone ; his 
sons were consecrated with him ; not to the same 
high office, not in all things in the same way, but to 
a lower grade of priesthood, in connection with, and 
depending upon, the one only High-priest. There- 
were two orders. There was the High-priesthood of 
Aaron, and there was the lower, associated priest- 
hood of Aaron's sons. We have considered Aaron's 
induction into the One ; and it now remains for us 
to consider the induction of his sons into the other. 
This, then, is what I propose for the present occa- 
sion. (See Verses 6, 13 to 16, 22 to 25, and 30 to 36.) 

You will notice in these consecration services, that 
in many things Aaron and his sons are dealt with 
alike — made partakers alike of the same rites 
Apart from his peculiar investments, Aaron occupied 
a position in common with the inferior priests. This 

(136) 



CONSECRATION OF AARON'S SONS. 137 

was not accidental. It pointed to a great fact in the 
history of our great High-priest that has passed into 
the heavens. In many things he was a man, the 
same as other good men. Whatever there was super- 
human and divine in him, he lacked nothing that 
was human. He is "the Son of Man" — the child 
of Mary. "Both he that sanctifieth, and they who 
are sanctified, are all of one : for which cause he is 
not ashamed to call them brethren. As the children 
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself 
likewise took part of the same. In all things it 
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren." 
And it is an affecting thought, that in many particu- 
lars, and in all the common constituents and condi- 
tions of human life, we occupy a place just as high, 
and exactly the same as our blessed Savior. If we 
feel the pressure of this world's woes, so did he. If 
we are tried with sore temptations, he was " in all 
points tempted like as we are." If we have the 
duties of piety to go through with, it is no more than 
our glorious Redeemer had in common with our- 
selves. Though he is "the only begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth," "yet learned he 
obedience by the things which he suffered." Aaron, 
in a great part, was consecrated by the selfsame ser- 
vices with his sons. 

It is also proper to remark here, that these ancient 
priesthoods had nothing in common with the pre- 
tended priesthoods of modern times. The Levitical 
priesthood embraced two orders — no more, and no 
less — the High-priesthood of Aaron, and the com- 
mon priesthood of Aaron's sons. The first could 
never have more than one occupant at a time, who, 
in that position, represented the Lord Jesus Christ, 
12* 



138 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 



The inferior priests, according to divine arrange 
ment, were all of equal dignity, and represented all 
the people of Christ — his sons by regeneration 
through his Spirit. Christ having come, and entered 
himself upon the High-priesthood, there can now 
be no High-priest but himself; for there could not 
be more than one High-priest at the same time. And 
as all the people of Christ are alike priests of God 
and of Christ, we have the two orders complete, and 
there is no other priesthood but these two, and even 
these two are one. 

We know certainly that Christ is a priest ; that he 
is a priest now ; and that he always will be a priest ; 
for he is "a priest for ever, after the order of Mel- 
chisedek." In him, then, we have the High-priest- 
hood. 

And it is equally certain, that all Christ's people, 
without distinction of laity or clergy, male or female, 
are also priests ; that they are priests now ; and that 
they will ever continue to be priests hereafter. Of 
old already did God say to all who should obey him 
— "Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests." 
Isaiah, by the inspiration of God, repeated the 
announcement — " Ye shall be named the priests of 
the Lord." Peter, by the same Spirit, says to all the 
scattered household of faith, "Ye are a royal priest- 
hood" Paul says, "We have an altar." John, in 
the name of all the saints, ascribes glory and dominion 
to him that loved us, and washed us from our sins 
in his own blood, for having " made us kings and 
priests unto God." And of all who have part in the 
first resurrection, it is written, " They shall be priests 
of God and of Christ." All Christians, then, are 
priests. This is the dignity which God himself has 



.11 



CONSECRATION OF AARON'S SONS. 139 

conferred upon them. Here, then, are the common 
priests. We thus identify the present occupants of 
both orders. The High-priesthood is filled by Christ ; 
the common priesthood is filled alike by all the 
people or children of Christ. This is the entire 
priesthood, so far as God has constituted it. Any 
other priesthood is therefore foreign to the divine 
constitution, and an innovation upon it. God has 
not appointed any other, or sanctioned any other, in 
his word. "Whatever claim may be set up for another 
priesthood, it is a mere device of man, an earthly 
fabrication, without warrant or authority. If it is 
really a priesthood, it is antichristian, and an inva- 
sion of the rights and honors of Christ or his people ; 
and if it is not really a priesthood, it is wrong to call 
it so. Aaron and his sons, that is Jesus with his 
children, as such, are the only divinely appointed 
priests ; and to hold to any other priests, is to pro- 
nounce against the institutions of God, and a sin 
against holy order. Our High-priest is Christ, and 
all we are common priests alike. 

It is further to be noticed, that common 'priests were 
the sons of the Sigh Priest. Their attainment of this 
high honor depended upon, and was the result of 
their filial connection with Aaron. They became 
common priests, because their father was the High- 
priest. In other words, their priesthood grew out 
of the High-priesthood of Aaron, and was based 
upon it. This fact was also the shadow of a great 
Gospel truth. We can only become priests, by con- 
nection with Jesus the High-priest. Our priesthood 
proceeds out of his, and can only become ours by 
virtue of a filial relation on our part to him. If 
Aaron is not our father, we cannot be God's priest*. 



140 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

We must be "born again" — "born of the Spirit" — 
born children of the ever-blessed Lord, — or these 
high honors do not belong to us. Christ must first 
become our life ; we must become members of him, 
of his flesh and bones and blood ; we must be grafted 
upon him, and united to him, as the branch is united 
to the vine, as the child to the father, as the wife to 
her husband ; we must become one with him in the 
bonds of a spiritual sonship ; or we are in no way 
partakers of his glory. There was no priesthood for 
Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, or Ithamar, but by virtue 
of their being Aaron's sons. 

And this thought refers us back again to those 
spiritual experiences and acts to which our attention 
was directed by the law of offerings. It is by means 
of those acts and experiences, that a man comes into 
saving relationship with Jesus, and is made spiritually 
his son. So here now we have the results of that 
sonship, a blessed priesthood. I cannot but more 
and more admire the deep moral, spiritual, logical, 
and connected history of the sinner in the process 
of his redemption, that is presented in the order and 
construction of this Levitical ritual. First we see 
him helpless, casting about for something where- 
withal to come before the Lord, and at length finding 
a sufficient sacrifice in Jesus the Lamb, upon whose 
head he leans with his burden, and is released. Next 
he is presented as offering himself in grateful return 
a living sacrifice to Him who hath redeemed him 
with the price of blood. Then we behold him feast- 
ing upon the fat things of hope and joy that come to 
him through his offerings. After that we see him 
struggling with remaining weaknesses of nature, but 
still clinging closely to his great Advocate in heaven. 



CONSECRATION OF AARON'S SONS. 141 

And by virtue of all this, we here come to view him 
as designed for, and actually being induced into, the 
high honors of a glorious and eternal priesthood. It 
is this sacred inauguration that we are now to con- 
sider. 

"We will first look at some of its surroundings, and 
then at the particulars of which the transaction was 
composed. 

1. These sons of Aaron, as well as Aaron himself, 
had been previously and divinely called to be priests. 
They had not been elected by men, but designated of 
God. The voice of the Almighty had said to Moses, 
" Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his 
sons with him, from among the children of Israel, 
that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, 
even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar and Itha- 
mar, Aaron's sons." Even so our calling and elec- 
tion to be priests of God and of Christ has come not 
from any workings of nature, but from the superna- 
tural interposition of Divine grace. God, by his 
word and Spirit, has come forth, and nominated 
every one of us to the high service of ministering at 
his altar. He has sent forth his ministers and com- 
missioned them to set apart all men whom they can 
reach, to be his priests. There is not one among 
you, however thoughtless, however wicked, but Jeho- 
vah has said of him, set him apart that he may minis- 
ter unto me in the priest's office. Whether old or 
young, poor or rich, high or low, male or female, 
young man or maiden, there is no difference ; every 
individual, of all nations and times, has been divinely 
singled out and nominated for this holy consecration. 
The command is, " Go and make disciples of all na- 
tions." Not one is left out. All are named, and all 



142 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

that hear the Gospel are called, elected, and ap- 
pointed, to enter at once upon this sublime and holy 
office. And not more really were Aaron and his sons 
called of God to the ancient priesthood, than you, 
and I, and all the people among whom we live, have 
been called -of God to the "royal priesthood" of be- 
lievers in Christ Jesus. 

2. Aaron and his sons obediently assented to their 
Divine appointment. "Would to God that I could say 
as much for all who are called to be priests under the 
new and better covenant ! But it cannot be said. 
Though God calls, many refuse. Though all are 
nominated, thousands will not consent to serve. They 
prefer to be priests of sin and self, to being priests 
of God and of Christ. They choose rather to minis- 
ter for iniquity and Satan, than minister at the pure 
altar of Him who made them. It is a sad, and me- 
lancholy, and wicked perverseness, thus to resist 
heaven's high election to heaven's highest honors; 
but alas, it is a perverseness which multitudes cherish 
and glory in. God has commanded us to set them 
apart to be his priests, but they will not consent ; and 
without their obedient concurrence they never can 
be inducted into the offices for which they have been 
named. Like Aaron and his sons, we must agree to 
be made priests, or we cannot become priests. 

3. Aaron and his sons were consecrated accord- 
ing to specific Divine directions. As Moses proceeded 
to attend to it, he said, "This is the thing which the 
Lord commanded to be done." No wisdom or inge- 
nuity of man can set apart priests for God. No rites 
that we can devise, no observances which this world's 
sages may invent, can ever induct a man into Chris- 
tian offices. Not even Moses had any right to proceed 






CONSECRATION OF AARON'S SONS. 143 

a single step, or to do one thing, except as God 
directed him. And everything which God com- 
manded had to be done. There was to be no adding 
to, and no taking from the services as God had ar- 
ranged them. The investment of Aaron and his sons 
with the dignities of priesthood, was God's work. 
And he did, in the ceremonies which he appointed, 
put forth his hand, and lay it, as it were, upon the 
heads of these men, and himself constituted them 
his ministers in the priest's office. Nor is it different 
now. We can only be set apart as priests of God and 
of Christ by the ceremonies which God himself, by 
his Son, has prescribed. No rites of human make, 
no decrees of councils, or commands of earthly so- 
vereigns, in Church or State ; no liturgies ; no manual 
impositions ; no services, however solemn or digni- 
fied ; nothing, can avail one feather's weight toward 
making any one a priest of God. His own clear and 
specific appointments alone can do this. It must be 
done by means of God's own unmutilated prescrip- 
tions, or it cannot be done at all. 

4. The consecration of Aaron and his sons was 
a public and open transaction. The command of 
God was, " Gather thou all the congregation to- 
gether;" and the history says, "the assembly was 
gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of 
the congregation," around the spot where the solemn 
deed was done. We cannot secretly be inducted 
into the holy priesthood to which the Gospel calls 
us. If there is any such a thing as secret disciple- 
ship, it is a very imperfect discipleship. People 
sometimes think they will be good, and prayerful, 
and holy, and gain for their souls the full portion 
of the blessed, and do it all without letting the 
thing be known. They will come to Jesus, but 



144 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

only like Mcodemus, tinder covert of the night, 
and in the secresy of retirement. They wish to be 
the priests of God and of Christ, but they are not 
willing to be brought before the congregation of 
Israel — not willing to submit to a public and daylight 
consecration. With all their many valuable expe- 
riences, they yet have a lingering shame to give 
themselves up to all God's appointments. They 
wish to abridge God's own ritual ; and are sometimes 
more than half offended because their way of ex- 
pecting to get into the holy Christian priesthood is 
not thought as good as God's way. But, whatever 
people may think, God's prescriptions for the conse- 
cration of his priests involve 'publicity. Christ re- 
quires of us to confess him before men. He demands 
of us an open and unreserved following of him. He 
exacts submission to all his holy ordinances, some 
of which are essentially public. He has arranged 
the way to enter into the sheepfold, and pronounces 
him a thief and a robber who undertakes to climb in 
some other way. Let men beware, then, how they 
undertake to stint and curtail the appointments of 
God. If he has instituted sacraments, it is our busi- 
ness to attend to them. If he has commanded a 
public acknowledgment of the faith and identifica- 
tion with his people, we have no right to decline it. 
And if we are not willing to be openly known as 
God's consecrated priests, I doubt whether your 
secret religion is of a sort that will avail in the great 
day. 

We come now to consider the particulars of the 
consecration itself. 

1. "And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and 
washed them with water." This was the first item 



CONSECRATION OF AARON'S SONS. 145 

in the service. And what does it typify, but that 
"washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy 
Ghost, shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ 
our Savior ?" " Verily, verily," says the Son of God, 
" except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, 
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Nay, 
for this very purpose hath Christ given himself for 
the Church, " that he might sanctify and cleanse it, 
with the washing of water by the word." 

I said a little while ago, that God has sent forth 
and commissioned his ministers to set apart all men 
to be his priests. And that same commission pre- 
scribes how it is to be done ; viz. by " baptizing them 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost." Not merely by the outward application 
of water to them in solemn religious service ; but also 
" teaching them to observe all things whatsoever Jesus 
has commanded." Our washing is not a mere exter- 
nal rite, but an inward grace, " the answer of a good 
conscience toward God." It is not mere water; but 
water joined with the word of God, in which we by 
faith receive the cleansing and renewing efficacy of 
the Holy Ghost. A man may be outwardly baptized, 
and still be impure, but he cannot spiritually appre- 
hend, appropriate, and enter into his baptism, with- 
out becoming a renewed and sanctified man. Nay, 
his whole spiritual renovation is included in this 
washing ; so that his baptism is virtually no baptism 
at all, unless attended or followed by the death and 
burial of the old man of sin, and the planting in the 
soul of a new, pure and vigorous righteousness. I 
have no sympathies with the aberrations of Tracta- 
rian folly upon this subject. I locate no transforming 
or renewing power in the mere outward ceremony. 
13 K 



146 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

The outward rite is not the substance of the baptism. 
It is the moral purgation, the inward renovation, the 
spiritual experience of the purifying grace of the 
Holy Ghost, that fills out the scriptural conception 
of Christian baptism. And without this spiritual 
cleansing,- the baptismal washing is a mere empty 
rite, and our baptism is no baptism to us. But if we 
have the real faith to lay hold of the grace offered 
and proposed to us in our baptism, it becomes to us 
the "laver of regeneration" — the burial of the old 
man, and the quickening of the new man ; " that as 
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of 
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness 
of life." And this is the true washing of the Chris- 
tian priest — the first item of his consecration to the 
holy ministry of eternal priesthood. "Except we be 
bom of water and of the Spirit, we cannot enter into the 
kingdom of Gfod." 

2. "And Moses brought Aaron's sons, and put 
coats upon them, and girded them with girdles, and 
put bonnets upon them." This was the second item 
in the service. After their cleansing they had to be 
clothed with ornaments "for glory and for beauty." 
The long flowing robe of linen, clean and white, 
covering the whole body from the neck to the hands 
and feet, the curious girdle, figured with blue, purple 
and scarlet, surrounding the loins, and the pyra- 
midal crown upon the head, constituted the beau- 
tiful and imposing regalia in which each was arrayed. 
But this also was a figure for the time then present. 
It was a type of the glory of grace, and the beauty 
of holiness, in which we must be enveloped in order 
to become priests of God and of Christ; u for the fine 
linen is the righteousness of the saints." We must be 



CONSECRATION OF AARON 'S SONS. 147 

pure, and we must be holy. Our native deformities 
must all be covered. We must " put on the Lord 
Jesus Christ," and be arrayed in his loveliness. His 
own glorious attirements are to be reflected in ours. 
The one must be, in its degree, of the same kind as 
the other. By our own weak endeavors, this never 
could be. No man is able to work out a satisfactory 
righteousness of his own. But it was not left to the 
priests to find their own dress. God had provided 
it for them. The wedding guest need not bring a 
wedding garment with him ; that is an article fur- 
nished by the maker of the feast. And so, our 
moral equipment in Christ Jesus is given us by him 
who hath called us to be his priests. Our Savior is 
our Righteousness. What we lack personally, is 
supplied by him as our surety. "As by the offence 
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, 
even so by the righteousness of one the free gift 
came upon all men unto justification of life." And 
" as by one man's disobedience many were made 
sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be 
made righteous." If we are in Christ Jesus, united 
to him as his sons by faith, he is " made unto us 
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and 
redemption ;" that he that glorieth may glory in the 
Lord. The law contemplates the saints in Christ, 
and sees them arrayed in his holiness, and accord- 
ingly pronounces them acceptable and just. Their 
faith in Christ secures to them the imputation of the 
righteousness of Christ. And under the complex 
workings of grace, this imputed righteousness also 
takes root in the believer's heart, and works itself 
into his experiences, so as in part to become a per- 
sonal as well as an imputed righteousness. " For if 



148 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

we have been planted together in the likeness of his 
death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resur- 
rection : knowing this, that our old man is crucified 
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, 
that henceforth we should not serve sin." Every 
Christian must needs be holy ; holy by virtue of re- 
lationship to Christ, and holy in the aims, purposes, 
desires, and efforts of life. And this is the robe of 
glory and beauty that we must needs put on to be 
constituted priests of God. As without the wed- 
ding garment we cannot partake of God's supper, so 
without holiness we cannot come into the presence 
of our Lord to minister in the priest's office. Jeho- 
vah hath written on the gates of the everlasting 
city, " There shall in no wise enter into it anything 
that defileth, or worketh abomination, or maketh 
a lie." And unless we have fully given up to be 
holy and good, we have not yet come to be God's 
priests. 

3. A third item in this consecration service, was 
the leaning of hands upon the head of the sin-offer- 
ing. Sin — sin — sin — in everything there is remem- 
brance made of sin, as man's great, ever present, 
crushing burden, and of the bloody sacrifice of Christ 
Jesus as its only remedy. Everywhere, even in our 
holiest moods and most sacred doings, there still 
flashes out the stern and humiliating accusation — 
" O man, thou art a sinner ! All thy goodness is but 
abomination apart from Christ ! Thy only hope is 
in him whose body was broken and whose blood was 
shed for the remission of sins !" There must, there- 
fore, be a habitual recurrence of our minds to this 
fact. Our hand must be ever kept on the brow of 
the atoning Lamb. "We must never cease to rest 



! 



CONSECRATION OF AARON'S SONS. 149 

upon Jesus and his offering of himself for us. Here 
must we 

sit, forever viewing 



Mercy streaming in his blood. 

This underlies everything else. There is no heavenly 
consecration which does not take in this. It is the 
beginning, and the middle, and the end, of all human 
sanctification. And without resting upon Christ as 
the sin-offering, we never can come to the high 
honors of the priesthood of saints. 

4. "And Moses put of the blood upon the tip of 
their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right 
hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet." 
The whole person is visibly dedicated to the Lord. 
Every faculty and power is consecrated with the 
blood of the Lamb. Jehovah touches that blood to 
the right ear, hand, and foot; as much as to say, 
" As my priests, all the faculties and powers repre- 
sented in these parts, from ear to toe, are to be used 
only for me." The ear is consecrated, that it may 
be ever open to the gentlest whispers of the Divine 
word, and listen to nothing but what is of God. The 
hand is consecrated, that it may never more be 
stretched out unto iniquity, but ever lifted up in de- 
votion to him to whose service it is set apart. The 
foot is consecrated, that it may never again be set 
down in the ways of sin, but ever made to move and 
carry us in the paths of righteousness. Such is our 
solemn consecration of the whole man as God's 
priests. We are no longer our own ; we are bought 
with a price — "with the precious blood of Christ as 
of a lamb without blemish and without spot;" and 
forever set apart to glorify God in our bodies and our 
13* 



150 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

spirits which are his. This is the consecration of 
priests ; and unless we have surrendered to be thus 
devoted to God, we are not partakers of the glorious 
priesthood to which we have been called. 

5. "And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of 
the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it 
upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his 
sons, and upon his sons' garments with him." Even 
after their setting apart to be priests, they needed to 
beyec further sanctified as priests. Not only them- 
selves, but their very garments also, were marked as 
holy. The sacred oil was emblematic of the gifts 
and graces of the Holy Spirit. And so the Holy 
Ghost, in conjunction with the blood of the Lamb, 
sanctifies and endows us for holy services. Sprinkled 
with these sacred elements — touched with moral 
unction and constrained by the dying love of Jesus, 
we become equipped for duty, and qualified "to 
show forth the praises of him who hath called us out 
of darkness into his marvellous light." It is not 
enough that we are installed in the priesthood. It 
is not the ultimatum of our calling merely to attain 
the honor and place of priests. Even this honor and 
place are to be made subservient to something more. 
Our very priesthood must be consecrated, as well as 
we to the priesthood. Not for our beauty and glory 
only does God invest us with our Christian offices 
and gifts, but for his own praise. We must there- 
fore aim not merely at getting ourselves into heaven, 
but at being saved for the further purpose, that, as 
saved men, we may the better glorify God, and set 
forth the praise of his glorious grace. There is 
danger that we think too much of the blessings of 
the Gospel and our portion as believers, as the end. 



CONSECKATION OF AARON'S SONS. 151 

They are not the end. They are only means to the 
end. "We are not called to be priests, for the mere 
sake of being priests; but that we may " minister 
unto Gfod in the priest's office." We are ordained for 
a purpose beyond our ordination. Our very priest- 
hood must be set apart for God. All the gifts and 
efficacies of the Spirit and the blood upon our nature, 
are to be for the everlasting praise of our Redeemer. 
And as we look forward to that nearing world when 
our sanctification shall be complete, we must not con- 
template it as a mere scene of resting upon our 
dignities, but as a scene of sublime, noble, and un- 
ceasing services, rendered unto God and the Lamb. 

6. Still another item in the consecration of God's 
ancient priests, was, that they had to eat the boiled 
flesh of the offered lamb with unleavened bread, at 
the door of the tabernacle. This boiled lamb of 
course typifies the Savior as offered for our sins. It 
calls to mind the great sufferings which he endured 
as our substitute and sacrifice of consecration. Every 
joint in him was relaxed. He was "poured out like 
water." "We cannot contemplate the scenes of his 
passion without feeling that " his countenance was 
more marred than the face of any man." But it was 
a necessary part of the process by which we are con- 
stituted priests of God. Christ had to die, and have 
all the tender parts of his nature brought under the 
fires of wrath, and his body given to be food for our 
souls, to qualify us to come acceptably before our 
Maker. And now that he is thus made an offering 
for our sanctification, it appertains to us to put forth 
our hands, and eat of that offering, as the life and 
feast of our souls. He is the bread of life, and upon 
that bread we must feed to be God's priests. For, 



152 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

"Except we eat the flesh of the Son of man, and 
drink his blood, we have no life in us." And as our 
washing is connected with our baptism, so this eat- 
ing is connected with the sacramental supper. The 
one points to the birth of the new man ; the other 
points to the nurture and nourishment of that new 
creature. Merely receiving the baptismal water is 
not regeneration ; and so merely eating and drinking 
in the holy Supper is not partaking of the flesh and 
blood of Christ. There is an inward in both, as well 
as an outward. But as it is only real renewal by the 
Holy Ghost that takes up and fills out our baptism, 
so it is only a believing and real appropriation of 
Christ's body and blood that constitutes a complete 
and effective participation of the holy supper. It is 
more a spiritual than an oral eating ; nay, it is essen_ 
tially a spiritual eating, only assisted by means of 
outward elements and bodily manducation. Faith 
must do the work, and the external is only a repre- 
sentation on which faith may more easily lean, and 
receive aid in laying hold upon Christ crucified. 
Faith is the hand that reaches out to take Christ as 
our salvation, and faith is the mouth by which we 
receive him ; but the physical hand is extended to 
grasp the consecrated elements, and the mouth of the 
body receives them, to give unto faith a greater vigor, 
and thus aid the inward thought by an outward act. 
And thus feeding continuously upon our slain and 
boiled Lamb, we are nourished and strengthened for 
our spiritual priesthood, and consecrated to serve in 
it for ever. 

7. There is yet one point in these consecration 
services to which I will call your attention, and then 
leave the subject to your own management. Aaron 



CONSECRATION OF AARON'S SONS. 153 

and his sons, having attended to these several par- 
ticulars, were further required to " abide at the door 
of the tabernacle day and night seven days," before 
they could enter fully upon the high offices to which 
they had been consecrated. 

The number seven is very often used in the Scrip- 
tures as the type of perfection and completeness. 
The " seven Spirits of God" represent the fulness 
and perfection of the one Holy Spirit. " The seven 
stars," or "the seven angels," represent the entire 
or complete ministry of the Christian Church. And 
so generally, the number seven is identified with 
completeness. This is especially true when used 
with reference to time. We read of the " seven days" 
of the week in which creation was finished ; " seven 
years" as completing a reckoning; and seven times 
seven years bringing round the grand sabbatic year 
of jubilee, when things went back and started again 
afresh. It was a completion of the period. So then, 
the priesthood of Aaron and his sons was made per- 
fect; it took in the completing number seven — 
"seven days." The consecration period was a com- 
plete period — a full measure of time. It was not only 
the fact of completeness, but a duration through 
which this fact was brought out. "We are not only 
to be completely consecrated to a complete spiritual 
priesthood; but it is to take a complete period of 
time in which this completeness is to be effected. 
We are called and consecrated now. We are real 
priests as soon as we have attended to the sanctifying 
services of which I have spoken. But we must yet 
abide " seven days" at the door of the tabernacle be- 
fore we can go into it. We must yet wait the revo- 
lution of a complete period before we can come into 



154 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

the Holy of holies. That complete period can be no- 
thing short of our entire earthly life. 

These present days, then, are the days of waiting. 
Though we are set apart as priests, we have to abide 
here at the door of the Holy Sanctuary until the days 
of our consecration be at an end. We cannot yet go 
in to see Gk>d in his glory, and to bend before him 
where his holy angels adore and wonder. "We must 
wait until the " seven days" are fulfilled. It may 
seem like an imprisonment. It may often make us 
feel somewhat impatient. It may tie down and fetter 
our desires. But it is only to make us perfect. It is 
necessary to complete our glorious installation, as 
priests of God and of Christ. And it will soon be 
over. It is only " seven days" — the shortest of all the 
complete periods of human reckoning. Before we 
think of it, it will have passed. For some of us, 
much of it has already gone. Two, three, four, -Rye, 
six, and to some even a part of the seventh, of these 
days of waiting, are even now numbered with the 
past. Presently the whole term will have expired. 
It will not be long till we all find the period com- 
pleted. 

And what a scene then awaits the elected and con- 
secrated priests of the Lord ! Found abiding at the 
door of the tabernacle when the clock strikes the 
finishing hour, who shall describe what follows ! 

In vain our fancy strives to paint 

The moment after death; 
The glories that surround a saint, 

When yielding up his breath. 

One gentle sigh his fetters breaks ; 

We scarce can say "He's gone!" 
Before the willing spirit takes 

Its mansions near the throne. 






CONSECRATION OF AARON 'S SONS. 155 

And then begin the everlasting services. Then shall 
we hear the tinkling of the golden bells that herald 
the motions of the great High-Priest in heaven. 
Then shall we look upon the beauties of redemp- 
tion's jewelry that hangs in glorious splendor around 
his noble form. Then shall we walk in the light of 
the golden lamps which fill the celestial sanctuary 
with the brightness of wisdom and the warmths of 
love. Then shall we eat holy bread in the presence 
of GTod, and wave the golden censers of heaven with 
the sweet incense of everlasting praise. Then shall 
we hear Jehovah speaking to us from his eternal 
seat, and look with adoring angels into the awful 
mysteries of his Being, and rejoice in the great 
heart of our Father's love pulsating with Almighti- 
ness. 

Oh ! glorious hour ! Oh, blest abode ! 
We shall be near, and like our God! 
And flesh and sin no more control 
The sacred pleasures of the soul. 






NINTH LECTURE. 

AARON IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE. 

LEV. CHAP. IX. 

As far as our examinations of this Book have pro- 
gressed, we have seen the complete arrangement of 
two important particulars ; first, the kind of offerings 
to be made ; and second, the consecration of the per- 
sons who were to officiate in offering them. We have 
therefore seen enough in this ritual to behold it now 
going into actual operation. Aaron having been 
ordained, and the days of his consecration having 
ended, he enters at once upon his priestly functions. 
The chapter before us, accordingly, shows us the Le- 
vitical system in active exercise. 

The business of a priest is summed up by Paul to 
be, to " offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." And 
as Aaron was a mere man, he had to offer these gifts 
and sacrifices, " as for the people, so also for him- 
self." Hence, in giving us this account of what 
Aaron did in his office as high-priest, G-od brings us 
again to the contemplation of scenes of slaughter 
and blood. Redemption by blood is the great theme 
of the Scriptures, from beginning to end. It ever 
and again comes up. God will not permit it to re- 
main out of sight for a single chapter. No matter 
what the figure is, it is made somehow to embrace 
this. It is repeated at every turn. It stands out 
boldly at every step. Every imaginable method is 

(156) 



AARON IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE. 157 

taken to write it deep in the soul, to engrave it upon 
the conscience, to fill the whole mind with it, and to 
make it the grand centre of all religious thought and 
belief. I have before referred to the fact, that this 
peculiarity of the Scriptures is exceedingly repugnant 
to the feelings of some people. It seems greatly to 
disgust and offend many, that we have so much to 
say about blood. Some verily seem to think, and 
some skeptics have argued, that the Bible cannot be 
what it claims to be, because it represents God as 
appointing and taking pleasure in such sanguinary 
arrangements and services. But I have also alluded 
to the glaring inconsistency of such people in shrink- 
ing with abhorrence from the bloody nature of the 
system which God has arranged for our salvation, 
whilst they are yet great admirers of the taste and 
culture of the men and times we read of in the 
classics. They are charmed with the ancient Greeks 
and Romans, and are ever putting them forward as 
our exemplars and guides ; and cannot get done 
talking about their glorious civilization; just as if 
the Religion of Greece and Rome had no sanguinary 
rites, or involved no dealing in bloody sacrifices. 
Never was there a religious system on earth more 
bloody in its observances, or more shocking in its 
sacrificial ritual, than those in vogue among these 
very Greeks and Romans, sanctioned and supported 
by their laws, and advocated by their greatest men. 
Every classical scholar knows this. I will not annoy 
you with details of their sacrifices of dogs, and pigs, 
and cats, and horses, and hecatombs of cattle, with 
salaried officers of state, manipulating and inspecting 
the entrails, to read in sickening filthiness the pre- 
tended communications of their gods. Nor were 
14 



158 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

these the worst. They not only sacrificed animals, 
but men also. Their altars flowed, not only with the 
blood of bulls and of goats, and various unclean and 
disgusting creatures, but with the blood of human 
beings, who were annually slain and offered up in 
religious worship to propitiate their sanguinary dei- 
ties. In the worship of Zeus Lycseus in Arcadia, 
human sacrifices were regularly offered for hundreds 
of years, down to the time of the Roman Emperors. 
In Leucas, a man was every year put to death at the 
high festival of Apollo. "When their great generals 
went out to war, they first offered up human victims 
to gain the assistance of their divinities. Before the 
battle of Salamis, Themistocles sacrificed three Per- 
sians to Dionysius. The city of Athens — the very 
"eye of Greece" — had an annual festival in honor 
of the Delian Apollo, at which two persons were 
every year put to death, the one for the men, and the 
other for the women, of that renowned metropolis. 
The neck of the one who died for the men was sur- 
rounded with a garland of black figs, and the neck 
of the other with a garland of white figs, and both 
were beaten with rods of fig-wood as they were led 
forth to a place where they were burned alive, and 
their ashes cast into the air and sea. And Grecian 
story tells of many parents, who laid violent hands 
upon their own children, and offered them up as 
bloody sacrifices to their gods. Eor was it much 
different with the Romans. In their earlier history, 
it was the custom, under certain contingencies, to 
sacrifice to their deities everything born of man or 
beast between the first day of March and the last 
day of April. Even in the latest period of the Roman 
republic, men were sacrificed to Mars in the Campus 



AARON IN THE DUTIES OP HIS OFFICE. 159 

Martins, by priests of state, and their heads stuck up 
at the Regia. 

I mention these things, not to vindicate the Levi- 
tical rites, of which they were monstrous and wicked 
distortions and perversions, but to show the miser- 
able inconsistency of those skeptical people who 
denounce the atoning regulations of the Scriptures, 
and hold up the taste and ideas of the Greeks and 
Romans as the true models of what is beautiful, 
refined, and elevated. I merely wish to have you 
know and feel, that if the Hebrew ritual is to be 
regarded as offensive to a lofty aesthetic taste, the 
ritual of the most polished nations of antiquity was 
still more offensive, and abhorrent in the utmost de- 
gree ; and that if the religion of the Scriptures can- 
not be received as of God by reason of its connection 
with scenes of blood, there is no system of religion 
upon earth, ancient or modern, that can be so re- 
ceived; because all others have been equally and 
still more sanguinary in their services, and that too 
without any of the deep and affecting moral mean- 
ing of this. And I freely confess, that I see nothing 
in the doctrine of salvation by blood, or in the Jewish 
rites, which typified it with so much strength and 
clearness, either to offend my taste, to shock my 
reason, or the least to interfere with the readiest and 
fullest acceptation of the Scriptures as the true reve- 
lation of Almighty God. True, I behold in it much 
that humbles my pride — that tells me I am a very 
wicked sinner — that proclaims my native condition 
far removed from what God's law requires — that 
assures me I am undone as regards my own strength 
— and that holds out death and eternal burning as 
what I deserve. But all this accords with my con- 



160 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

science, and is reechoed in the deepest convictions 
of my soul. And with it all, it presents to me a 
plan of redemption so out of the line of man's 
thoughts, so fitted to my felt wants, and so com- 
pletely attested by its moral efficacy, that it is itself 
a mighty demonstration to my mind of its divine 
original. 

The very fact that the Bible has but one great 
subject running through all its histories and prophe- 
cies, ordinances and types, epistles and psalms — 
that salvation by blood is the focal point in which 
all its various lines of light converge — is to me one 
of the strongest evidences that it has come from 
God. When I consider that its writers lived hun- 
dreds and thousands of years apart ; that they were 
found in all walks of life ; and that they wrote in 
languages foreign to each other ; I can find no way 
to account for the unity which pervades it, but by 
admitting that these various writers were all moved 
and guided by the same high intelligence, and in- 
spired of God. IsTo matter who held the pen, whether 
Moses in Midian when time itself was young, or 
David in the mountains of Israel, or Ezekiel lying 
on the river's bank, or Daniel in the palaces of 
Babylon, or Paul a prisoner at Rome, or John in the 
solitude of the bleak rocks of Patmos, the records 
are all essentially the same, and blend together as 
parts of one great whole. Just as the various notes 
and chords of the musician's oratorio, express the 
one great thought of the composer, so the grand 
hymn of Revelation presents but one central idea ; 
and whatever chords in the harp of inspiration are 
touched by the chosen hands, they all ultimately 
settle upon the all-thrilling tone of the key-note — 






AARON IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE. 161 

salvation through the blood of the Lamb. Isolated and 
foreign as some parts may at first seem, they all have 
connection with each other, and exhibit a oneness 
of interior substance and unity of design, which, as 
it could not have been the result of accident, and 
cannot be explained on the ground of concert between 
the writers, must needs be referred to the mind of 
God, moving and controlling them all. 

The duties of the high-priest, as stated by the 
apostle, and exhibited in this chapter, divide them- 
selves into two general classes. Some of his services 
related exclusively to himself, and the rest exclu- 
sively to the people. Aaron, though a priest, was 
still a man, with all the wants and infirmities of men. 
He consequently needed atonement as much as those 
for whom he was to officiate. And before he was 
allowed to proceed with his duties for others, he was 
required to offer sacrifices for himself. On all public 
occasions, the high-priest was to begin his work by 
presenting a sin-offering and a burnt-offering for 
himself. This requirement was a kind of undertone, 
or sub-current, in the performances of the ancient 
priesthood, which pointed to the merely provisional 
character of the Levitical system. It was to remind 
Aaron, and to remind the people, that he was, after 
all, not the true and real priest to make effectual 
reconciliation for the sins of the world — that he was 
only a sinful man, set up to represent a priest yet to 
come — that no one was to look to him as able to 
open the doors of heaven, but through him to another 
who " needeth not daily to offer up sacrifice for his 
own sins" — that he was but a figure for the time 
then present of good things to come by means of 
14* l 



162 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

" the great Prince which standeth for the children 
of his people." 

Aaron was first of all to offer a calf for a sin-offer- 
ing. And it may be that this was intended to refer 
back to his great sin in the matter of the " golden 
calf," which he had been prevailed npon to make 
for the worship of the people while Moses was in 
the monnt. It is a hard thing to shake off the de- 
grading recollection of any marked deed of wrong. 
The soil of sin npon the conscience cannot be easily 
washed out. Though a man repent never so bitterly, 
and though he should have the assurance of forgive- 
ness, it still lives like an evil fountain in the soul, 
ejecting now and then its dark and saddening waters 
into the stream of his joys. I once heard a man say 
with tears upon his cheeks, that if he owned a world, 
he would willingly and gladly give it to have certain 
recollections of crime blotted from his mind. He 
was a good and pious man — a man who had 
solemnly consecrated himself to labors for the good 
of his kind ; but the thought of his former deeds of 
shame haunted him like a demon, and clouded his 
brightest peace. Aaron had done a great evil in the 
sight of God, and the dark shadow of its remem- 
brance followed him even into the honors of his 
high-priesthood, and stood before him every time 
he came to enter into the tabernacle of the Most 
High. And if I am now addressing any who are 
yet in the virgin innocence of their youth, let me 
exhort you, as you love your peace, to beware of the 
first sin. It may seem sweet to the taste, but it will 
be wormwood and gall within you. Though you 
should even live to have it forgiven, it will be a dark 

cloud upon your soul to the hour of your death. It 



AARON IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE. 163 

will be a source of mortification to you for ever. It 
will degrade you in your own thoughts, and hang 
upon you as a depressing weight whenever you 
attempt to draw near to God. Fly from it, as you 
would fly from pestilence and death; for it biteth 
like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 

The second offering which Aaron was to make 
for himself was the holocaust, or whole burnt-offer- 
ing. In addition to his special sin, he was a common 
sinner with all other men. He needed justification 
by the blood of Jesus, just as every body else. 
There is a sense in which all are equally guilty 
before God, the high and the low, the rich and the 
poor, the young and the old, the learned and the 
ignorant, the priest and the people. And the only 
deliverance from this common guilt, as from all other 
guilt, is through the one great offering of " The 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." 
Not a soul can ever become acceptable to the Lord, 
or enter heaven, but by this. We may think that 
little children are so innocent, that surely they are fit 
for blessedness ; but not even the youngest and love- 
liest of our babes could ever be saved, if it were not 
for the great sacrifice of Calvary, in which the whole 
nature of Christ came under the penetrating blade 
and consuming fires of offended sovereignty. By 
that whole burnt-offering alone do they become 
acceptable to God, and by that alone can even the 
holiest and highest of this world's population ever 
come into the presence of the Almighty and live. 
Even Aaron in his priesthood needs it just as much 
as the wickedest and vilest of the race. 

These preliminary and personal services having 
been attended to, Aaron proceeded, as God directed, 



164 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

to perform the duties of his office for the people for 
whom he was ordained. A sin-offering, a burnt- 
offering, a peace-offering, and a meat-offering had 
been prescribed, and his functions with reference to 
these he now proceeded to discharge. Let us, then, 
contemplate him in the solemn service. 

Aaron's first official duties were connected with 
the altar at the door of the tabernacle, and were all 
performed in the presence of the people. Here the 
sacrifices were brought, and slain, and cut into their 
several parts, and arranged in the order prescribed. 
"What was to be burned, he put upon the altar ; what 
was to be waved before the Lord, he waved; what was 
to fall to the offerers he delivered over to them ; and 
the blood that was to be poured and sprinkled upon 
and about the altar, he poured and sprinkled. 

Now, in order to understand the typical meaning 
of all this, it will be necessary to observe that Christ 
is at once the priest and the sacrifice. It was impos- 
sible to unite these two things in the type. They 
stand in the Levitical ritual as distinct, and they are 
not at all confounded together in the great mediation 
of Calvary. But we must bear in mind, that Christ 
is at the same time the victim, and the High-priest 
who officiates in offering that victim. "When he was 
led forth to his immolation, he was the lamb without 
blemish, and also the one who was to lay its body 
upon the fires, and sprinkle its blood upon the altar. 
"Therefore," says he, "doth my Father love me, 
because I lay down my life, that I might take it 
again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down 
of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have 
power to take it again." It is altogether too low and 
unworthy a conception of Christ's offering, to regard 



AARON IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE. 165 

him as having been compulsively dragged to his ex- 
ecution, or as having been put to death by the mere 
power of men. It was his own voluntary act. "What 
did he say when the armed host came out by night 
to take him ? " I can now pray to my Father, and 
he shall presently give me more than twelve legions 
of angels. But how then shall the Scriptures be 
fulfilled, that thus it must be ?" And to show that 
this was not vain boasting, he stepped forward in the 
face of his armed enemies, and said, "I am Jesus of 
Nazareth whom ye seek!" and they quailed before 
him, and shrank back, and fell as dead men at his 
feet. And surely He, whose voice had withered the 
fig-tree in its greenness, and hushed the fury of the 
tempest into peace, and stilled the uplifted waves of 
the sea, and recalled the putrefying dead from the 
grave, could easily have blasted all the strength of 
Jerusalem's officials, and palsied every hand that 
could have been raised against his life. ~No, no ; he 
was not slain because he could not help it. His life- 
blood was not wrung from him, except as he unmur- 
muringly and voluntarily consented and yielded. As 
the apostle tells us, "He offered up himself." He is 
the great High-priest who officiated at his own im- 
molation. It was he himself that presided at the 
awful ceremony, in which all his joints were relaxed, 
and all the binding ligaments of his being cut asun- 
der, and all the tender parts of his most interior 
nature torn out for burning — and his body, soul, and 
spirit, laid down as a sacrifice for the sins of the 
world. It was by his own will that the blow was 
struck ; that the blood flowed ; that every covering 
and protection was torn off; and the whole blessed 



166 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

Christ reduced to a mangled and lifeless mass around 
and upon the altar of God. 

And it is this very fact that so infinitely ennobles, 
exalts, and dignifies Christ's sacrifice. It was a will- 
ing surrender of himself to death. He " gave him- 
self for us/' He " made himself of no reputation, and 
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made 
in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion 
as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient 
unto death, even the death of the cross." 

This was compassion, like a God, 

That when the Savior knew 
The price of pardon was his blood, 

His pity ne'er withdrew. 

There is a very remarkable expression in the 15th 
verse, to which I desire to call your particular atten- 
tion in this connection. You read there, that Aaron 
"took the sin-offering for the people, and slew it, 
and offered it for sin." A stricter rendering of the 
original, as noted by various critics, would be, " He 
sinned it" or "He made it to be sin." The same dic- 
tion occurs in chapter 6 : 26. The idea is, that the 
sin-offering somehow had the sin transferred to it, or 
laid on it, or was so linked with the sin for which it 
was to atone, as to become itself the sinful or sinning 
one, not actually, but imputatively and constructively. 
The animal had no sin, and was not capable of sin- 
ning ; but, having been devoted as a sin-offering, and 
having received upon its head the burden of the 
guilty one who substituted its life for his own, it 
came to be viewed and treated as a creature which 
was nothing but sin. 

And this brings us to a feature in the sacrificial 



AARON IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFEICE. 167 

work of Christ at which many have stumbled, but 
which deserves to be profoundly considered. Jesus 
died, not only as a martyr to the cause he had 
espoused, not only as an offering apart from the sins 
of those for whom he came to atone, but as a victim 
who had received all those sins upon his own head, 
and so united them with his own innocent and holy 
person as to be viewed and treated, in part at least, 
as if he himself had sinned the sins of all sinners. 
He so effectually put himself into the room and stead 
of sinners, and so really assumed their wickedness, 
that he came to be the only guilty one which the law 
could see. Personally he was not a sinner, but, 
"holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin- 
ners ;" nevertheless, as he surrendered to become the 
substitute of the guilty, and undertook to answer for 
all their crimes, he thereby became to the law as if 
he were a mere mass of sin, upon which the hottest 
furies of just indignation and wrath were let loose. 
Though in his own proper self as unsullied as the 
highest heavens, in his character as our sin-offering, 
he took a guiltiness upon him, and a volume of 
iniquity covered him, as intense and terrible as the 
combined wickedness of all men. Though never the 
committer, he became the receiver of sin, and stood 
to the law as a reservoir into which all the streams 
of human guilt had emptied themselves. 

Think not that I am stating this case too strongly. 
Ask of the inspired apostle, and he will tell you. 
Ever memorable are the words which he has recorded 
on this very point. Taking up the exact diction of 
Moses in the text, he says that God "hath made him 
to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we might be 
made the righteousness of God in him." Here it is. 



168 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

As the sins of Israel were so put upon the sin-offer- 
ing that it came to be viewed and treated as nothing 
but sin, so the Lord hath made our great sin-offering 
to be — not merely a sinner, but the very substance 
and essence of criminality. u He made him to be sin" 
— a mere mass of guilt, laid bare to the judgments 
of Divine wrath. How could it have been other- 
wise, when, as Isaiah tells us, " The Lord laid on 
him the iniquity of us allV The iniquity of us all, 
is no small iniquity. A ten thousandth part of the 
sin that cleaves even to the most virtuous among 
men, would be enough, if uncancelled, to sink them 
to eternal death. How then are we to estimate the 
mightiness of that sum of crime which has been ac- 
cumulating since the world began ? How shall we 
measure the ocean of guilt which has been gathering 
from every generation as from a thousand Amazons ? 
Aye, "there are shadows upon the world that we 
cannot penetrate; masses of sin and misery that 
overwhelm us with wonder and awe." Not vaster is 
the five mile thickness of atmosphere around this 
globe, than the measure of the iniquities of those 
who have lived upon its surface. Yet every one of 
them was laid upon Jesus as the great sin-offering 
of man. When the holy inquisition of heaven was sent 
forth to deal out just indignation for earth's amazing 
wickedness, there was not a sin from Adam's fall to 
last night's theft, or the wandering thoughts of yon 
inattentive hearer, which was not found lying to the 
charge of that spotless Lamb who had undertaken to 
answer for all. And of all the monsters in crime 
that this world has ever borne, none ever had upon 
him such an intensity and vastness of guilt as that 
which the holy Christ assumed and took upon him- 



AARON IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE. 169 

self in that dark hour when his soul was made an 
offering for sin. The law could have seen in him 
nothing but sin — an embodiment of condensed and 
unspeakable guiltiness — the very purity of heaven so 
shrouded and buried up in a sea of vileness that the 
Father, with all his tender love for his only begotten, 
for a while turned away his face in abhorrence. 
Hence that awful cry of the dying Savior, " My God ! 
My God! why hast thou forsaken me!" "The 
Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all." " He made 
him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us." 

Having attended to what was to be done with the 
sacrifices at the altar, in presence of the people, the 
next duty of Aaron, as the high-priest, was, to enter 
into the sanctuary and the most holy place with the 
blood of the sin-offering, as directed in the 30th of 
Exodus. But, before entering upon this second 
grand department of his priesthood, he " lifted up 
his hands towards the people, and blessed them." 
It was a very significant act. It was as if he were 
emptying over them from his bloody hands all the 
effects and virtues of that blood. And it pointed 
forward to those gracious transactions of the Lord 
Jesus subsequent to his offering of himself for us, 
and prior to his ascension into heaven. How stri- 
kingly it reminds us of those impressive scenes in 
which the risen Savior appeared unto his disciples, 
and "shewed unto them his hands and his side," 
and opened his lips with the comforting words, 
"Peace be unto you" and "breathed on them, saying, 
Receive ye the Holy 6rAos£." How it leads ourthougts 
back to the time when our great High-priest, with 
his people, stood round their altar upon Olivet, lift- 
ing up those hands so lately stained with blood, 
15 



170 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

blessing them before he left them, and as he left 
them still blessing them ! It was the pouring out 
over them, and through them upon all subsequent 
believers, the hallowing influences of his atoning 
sacrifice, and the comforting blessings of his great 
sin-offering. From those open hands, there still 
flows down a stream of good, filling many a sad 
heart with joy, and many a disconsolate home with 
songs of praise. Though many a long and tedious 
year has passed since that fountain of blessing was 
opened upon the world, its glad waters are still as 
pure and plenteous as ever, and shall continue to 
flow to generations yet unborn. 

Its streams the whole creation reach, 

So bounteous is the store ; 
Enough for all, enough for each, 

Enough for evermore. 

But having thus spread his hands in blessing towards 
the people, Aaron "went into the tabernacle," and 
was hidden from the view of the solemn worshippers. 
How beautiful the connection between type and 
antitype ! Of our Aaron it is written, " he lifted up 
his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, 
while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and 
carried up into heaven;" — "while they beheld, he 
was taken up ; and a cloud received him out of their 
sight." 

Aaron was to enter into the tabernacle with the 
atoning blood of the victim slain without. "But 
Christ being come an High-priest of good things, 
which were to come, entered into a greater and more 
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, not by the 
blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood. . . 






AARON IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE. 171 

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made 
with hands, which are the figures of the true ; but 
into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of 
God for us." 

Moses, as the representative of Jehovah in these 
transactions, accompanied Aaron into the holy places, 
and delivered over to his care all the vessels of the 
sanctuary, and put the ordering of all the sacred ser- 
vices into his hands. And thus also hath Jesus "re- 
ceived from God the Father, honor and glory." 
" God also hath highly exalted him, and given him 
a name which is above every name ; that at the name 
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, 
and things in earth, and things under the earth ; and 
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is 
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." " The 
Father judgeth no man ; but hath committed all 
judgment unto the Son : that all men should honor 
the Son, even as they honor the Father." Hence, 
he said, when about to enter upon his heavenly do- 
minion, "All power is given unto me in heaven and 
in earth." " The Father hath committed all things 
into his hands." 

Corporeally, then, our great High-priest is no 
longer with us. He has passed out of our sight 
within the vail of that holy tabernacle, which the 
Lord pitched, and not man. He has entered into 
heaven, into the presence of the eternal God. He is 
there as our Advocate with the Father, with the 
blood of sacrifice in his hands, ever interceding for 
us. He is there as our representative and Lord. 
Our names he wears in blazing jewelry on his shoul- 
ders and on his heart. He is there trimming the 
holy lamps for our enlightenment. He is there 



172 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

offering our prayers perfumed by the sweet incense 
of his holy intercessions. He is there to stay the 
breaking forth of wrath upon our sins. He is there, 
ordering all things, and keeping the charge of the 
holy services, that he may ultimately present us as a 
perfect Church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such 
thing. Though we see him not, we know that he is 
there. Our elder brethren saw him enter there ; 
and some of them in holy vision had a glimpse of 
him since he has entered there. John was one day 
in the Spirit, and saw him in the midst of the golden 
candlesticks, clothed with a garment down to the 
foot, and girt about with a golden girdle. In his 
hand were the seven stars, and his countenance was 
as the sun shineth in his strength. And he heard 
him say, "I am the first and the last; I am he that 
liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for 
evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of hell and of 
death. "Write the things which thou hast seen." 
Yes, he still lives : — 

He lives, the great Redeemer lives ; 
What joy the blest assurance gives ! 
And now, before his Father, God, 
Pleads the full merit of his blood. 

But Aaron did not stay in the tabernacle. He 
went in after the morning sacrifices were made ; but 
before the evening sacrifices, he again " came out, 
and blessed the people." The soul kindles as we 
proceed with these ancient types. They portray so 
beautifully the grand mysteries of Redemption's 
progress. When I read of Aaron returning from his 
duties in the holy place, the words of the bright 
angels that kept guard at the Savior's ascension 






AARON IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE. 178 

gather new preciousness. " Ye men of Galilee, why 
stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus 
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so 
come in like manner as ye have seen him go into 
heaven." Our Lord will come again. "A little 
while," said he, "and ye shall not see me. And 
again a little while, and ye shall see me." "When 
about to leave this world, he said, "I go to prepare 
a place for you, I will come again.'" And hardly had 
he reached the threshold of the heavenly home, until 
he shouted back, " Surely 1 come quickly." Soon 
shall the cloud that received him out of human sight, 
part asunder again to reveal him to his waiting 
people. Already the Apocalyptic cry has gone forth, 
"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall 
see him!" 

"When Aaron came out of the holy place, it was 
to bless the waiting people. And so it is written of 
our great High-priest in heaven — "Unto them that 
look for him shall he appear the second time without 
sin unto salvation." Most people are afraid of the 
Savior's second coming, and never think of it but 
with dread. It is because they have not sufficiently 
considered its nature, and what it is for. It is not 
to curse, but to bless. It is not to distress, but to 
heal and save. It is not a thing to be dreaded, but 
to be prayed for and most earnestly desired. It is 
the event that is to finish our redemption, and com- 
plete our bliss. Everything now is yet imperfect. 
Our salvation is yet a thing of hope. Whatever be 
the strength of our faith, or the extent of our joy, 
we have not yet reached the promised fruition. Our 
home is yet in a world of diseases, funerals, graves, 
crimes, and tears. But when our expected Savior 
15* 



174 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

comes, creation's groans shall cease, and peace stretch 
forth its shady wings over the sons of men, and rivers 
of joy flow through this vale of tears, and the year 
of everlasting jubilee begin. 

When Aaron came out of the holy place, "the 
glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people.'' 
Nor shall it be otherwise when Christ's epiphany 
shall occur. "When the evening of this world's day 
shall come, "then shall appear the sign of the Son 
of Man in heaven, and they shall see him coming in 
the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." 
"For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his 
Father, with his angels." Then shall Jerusalem's 
light come, and the glory of the Lord arise upon 
her. Then shall the pure in heart see God, and the 
righteous behold the King in his beauty, and cheru- 
bim to cherubim sing : " Holy, holy, holy, is the 
Lord God of hosts ; the whole earth is full of his 

GLORY !" 

When Aaron came out of the holy place, "there 
came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed 
upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat." These 
things had been "made sm." All else was clean. 
The sins of all the congregation were upon the 
victim that lay upon the altar. And as soon as 
Aaron came forth, the fires of Jehovah leaped forth 
before him, and consumed that mass of sin. It was 
the exact picture of what is predicted concerning the 
reappearance of our great High-priest. " The Lord 
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty 
angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them 
that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel : 
who shall be punished with everlasting destruction 
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory 






AARON IN THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE. 175 

of his power." " The day cometh, that shall burn 
as an oven ; and all the proud, yea, all that do 
wickedly, shall be stubble ; and the day that cometh 
shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts." "If 
we sin wilfully after that we have received the know- 
ledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice 
for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment 
and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adver- 
saries." "For our God is a consuming fire." 

But the fire that darted forth before Aaron, and 
burned up what was accounted to be sin in that 
congregation, touched not one of the waiting wor- 
shippers. They saw it leap out with lightning fierce- 
ness, and lick up the guilty mass in a moment, but 
it came not near either of them. Not a saint of God 
shall be burned by the terrific fires of the great day. 
When the wicked are cut off, they shall see it. " The 
Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from 
Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall 
shake : but the Lord will be the hope of his people, 
and the strength of the children of Israel." " There 
shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in 
the stars ; and upon earth distress of nations, with 
perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's 
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after 
those things which are coming on the earth : for the 
powers of heaven shall be shaken ; and they shall 
see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with power 
and great glory." But He who upholds the worlds, 
yet marks the sparrow's fall, says to his people : 
"When these things begin to come to pass, then 
look up, and lift up your heads : for your redemption 
draweth nigh." 

ISTav, when the congregation of Israel saw the fires, 



176 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

"they shouted" and adored. They "fell on their 
faces" for very ecstacy, and holy worshipful admira- 
tion. They had expected much, but the thing trans- 
cended their most rapturous imaginings. And so, 
in the day of our Savior's coming, there is a joy, and 
glory, and holy exultation, and adoring gladness, for 
the people of God, which eye hath not seen, nor ear 
heard, nor the heart of man conceived. Then, from 
the dwellers in the valleys, and caught up by the 
inhabitants of the hills, and echoed by the islands 
over all the seas, shall be sung the Apocalyptic chant 
of Christian exultation — "Unto Him that loved us, 
and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and 
hath made us kings and priests unto God and his 
Father ; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and 
ever; Amen!" Even the four-and-twenty elders 
which sit before God, shall fall down on their faces, 
and worship, saying, " "We give thee thanks, O Lord 
God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come ; 
because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and 
hast reigned." And down the long aisles of ever- 
lasting ages, shall be " heard, as it were, the voice of 
a great multitude, and the voice of many waters, and 
the voice of mighty thunderiugs, saying, Alleluia ! 
for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth !" 



TENTH LECTURE. 

THE FALL OF NADAB AND ABIHU. 

LEV. CHAP. X. 

This chapter comes in as an episode in the general 
current of this book. It gives an account of a sort 
of accident during the institution of this ancient 
ritual. But it is not therefore without significance 
or important typical relations. 

At our last view of the tabernacle, we beheld it gay 
and glorious with the manifestations of a reconciled 
God, and a delighted, adoring people. This chapter 
shows it overspread with gloom and sadness. The 
shout of Israel yesterday, becomes a wail to-day. 
Such is human life — a ceaseless alternation of lights 
and shades, joys and sorrows, bridals and burials. 
The same heart pulsates with delight and throbs with 
grief. The same walls echo the voice of festivity 
and the lamentations of woe. The morning calm is 
often but the herald of the evening tempest. War 
soon succeeds the profoundest peace ; judgments 
follow upon the heels of mercies; the coffin pre- 
sently comes after the cradle. There is a bitter for 
every sweet, a night for every day, a death for every 
birth. From scenes of glory we pass to scenes of 
gloom and mourning. The sunshine of to-day is lost 
again in the clouds of to-morrow. " For all flesh is 
as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of 

M (177) 



178 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof 
falleth away." 

Nadab and Abihu were no inconsiderable person- 
ages. They were the sons of Israel's priest, the 
nephews of Israel's leader, the head of Israel's 
princely elders. They had been with Moses and 
Aaron in the hallowed mount; they had looked 
upon the glorious vision of God as he appeared on 
Sinai ; they had been chosen and consecrated to the 
priesthood ; they had stood by and assisted Aaron in 
the first operations of the Hebrew ritual ; and in all 
that camp of God's ransomed ones, Moses and Aaron 
alone had higher dignity than theirs. But, from the 
mount of vision, they fell into the pit of destruction. 
They were accepted priests yesterday ; they are dis- 
graced victims of God's holy indignation to-day. 
The world had not made one of its quick revolutions, 
from the time the people drew near them as the 
sanctified of the Lord, until they shrank from them 
in horror as the accursed of God. In the evening 
they were accepted priests, with prospects of a bright 
destiny before them ; in the morning they were in 
the hands of death, and all their hopes were 
quenched. 

An event so startling and melancholy, occurring 
at the very inception of the Mosaic ceremonies, chal- 
lenges our special attention, and calls for serious 
thinking. "We cannot consider it too solemnly, nor 
view it intelligently, without important spiritual 
profit. It is a sort of finger-post, set up at the start- 
ing point of a great history, from which generation 
after generation, in all succeeding ages, might take 
warning and learn wisdom. 

The death of these men was exceedingly awful, 






FALL OF NADAB AND ABIHU. 179 

It came upon them with the suddenness of lightning. 
I do not know that sudden death is always to be de- 
plored. To a good man, sudden death is only sud- 
den deliverance from the infirmities of life, and 
sudden glory. It saves from many an anxiety and 
many a pain. But for a thoughtless and impenitent 
sinner to be cut off and hurried to the judgment 
without a moment's warning, is exceedingly terrible. 
!N"adab and Abihu were plunged into eternity with a 
flash, and that right in the midst of their sin. With 
their censers in their hands, enveloped in a cloud of 
incense which was but the expression and signal of 
their guilt, in the very act of their transgression, a 
bolt of flame darted out over the mercy-seat, and 
laid them instantaneously with the dead. 

A judgment so marked and terrific argues peculiar 
provocation. It is not always right to infer special 
guilt from special affliction. Job's calamities did not 
come upon him because he was a man of sin. Those 
Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sac- 
rifices, were not sinners above all the Galileans be- 
cause they suffered such things. Those eighteen 
upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, were not sin- 
ners above all them that dwelt in Jerusalem because 
they met a fate so sad. The best men are sometimes 
the greatest sufferers. There are mysteries in the 
divine administrations, which often make the way 
to heaven a way of tribulation and tears. But in 
this case, there was no suffering for righteousness' 
sake. It was a plain instance of the breaking forth 
of God's anger. It was a terrific visitation, miracu- 
lous, and direct from indignant Deity. And we are 
compelled to infer peculiar crime and special iniquity 
as the cause. 



180 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

Let us inquire, then, in the first place, into the 
nature of the offence which called out this startling 
visitation upon these unfortunate men. The record 
is not very specific, and leaves much to be reached 
by inference ; but enough is said to give us an ade- 
quate idea of the sin committed. The context shows 
that it was not one isolated and specific act of diso- 
bedience. It was of a complex nature, and involved 
sundry particulars, each of which contributed its 
portion to make up the general crime for which 
judgment came upon the guilty ones. 

The special statute recorded in the ninth verse, of 
which this occurrence seems to have been the occa- 
sion, furnishes ground for the inference, that Nadab 
and Abihu had indulged too freely in stimulating 
drinks, and thus incapacitated themselves for that 
circumspection and sacred reverence which belonged 
to the priestly functions. We cannot say positively 
that such was the fact, but the whole nature and cir- 
cumstances of the case point strongly that way. 
And if this inference be correct, we have here an- 
other among the many sad exhibitions of the mischiefs 
wrought by indulging in a too free use of intoxicating 
liquors. The history of strong drink, is the history 
of ruin, of tears, of blood. It is, perhaps, the 
greatest curse that has ever scourged the earth. It 
is one of depravity's worst fruits — a giant demon of 
destruction. Men may talk of earthquakes, storms, 
floods, conflagrations, famine, pestilence, despotism 
and war ; but intemperance in the use of intoxicating 
drinks, has sent a volume of misery and woe into the 
stream of this world's history, more fearful and ter- 
rific than either of them. It is the Amazon and 
Mississippi among the rivers of wretchedness. It is 



FALL OF NADAB AND ABIHU. 181 

the Alexander and Napoleon among the warriors 
npon the peace and good of man. It is like the pale 
horse of the Apocalypse, whose rider is Death, and 
at whose heels follow hell and destruction. It is an 
evil which is limited to no age, no continent, no 
nation, no party, no sex, no period of life. It has 
taken the poor man at his toil and the rich man at 
his desk, the senator in the halls of state and the 
drayman on the street, the young man in his festivi- 
ties and the old man in his repose, the priest at the 
altar and the layman in the pew, and plunged them 
together into a common ruin. It has raged equally 
in times of war and in times of peace, in periods of 
depression, and in periods of prosperity, in republics 
and in monarchies, among the civilized and among 
the savage. Since the time that Noah came out of 
the ark, and planted vineyards, and drank of their 
wines, we read in all histories of its terrible doings, 
and never once lose sight of its black and bloody 
tracks. States have recorded enactments against it, 
ecclesiastical penalties have been imposed upon it, 
societies have succeeded societies for its extermina- 
tion ; but, like him whose name was Legion, no man 
has been able to bind it. For these four thousand 
years, it has been raging over the world, destroying 
some of virtue's fairest flowers and some of wisdom's 
richest fruitage. It was this that brought the original 
curse of servitude upon the descendants of Ham, 
that has eaten away the strength of empires, wasted 
the energies of states, blotted out the names of fami- 
lies, and crowded hell with tenants. Egypt, the 
source of science — Babylon, the wonder and glory 
of the world — Greece, the home of learning and of 
liberty — Borne with her Csesars, the mistress of the 
16 



182 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

earth — each, in its turn had its heart lacerated by 
this dreadful canker-worm, and thus became an easy 
prey to the destroyer. It has drained tears enough 
to make a sea, expended treasure enough to exhaust 
Golconda, shed blood enough to redden the waves 
of every ocean, and wrung out wailing enough to 
make a chorus to the lamentations of the under 
world. Some of the mightiest intellects, some of 
the most generous natures, some of the happiest 
homes, some of the noblest specimens of man, it has 
blighted and crushed, and buried in squalid wretch- 
edness. It has supplied every jail, and penitentiary, 
and almshouse, and charity hospital in the world 
with tenants. It has sent forth beggars on every 
street, and flooded every city with beastiality and 
crime. And it has, perhaps, done more towards 
bringing earth and hell together, than any one other 
form of vice. Could we but dry up this one moral 
ulcer, and sweep away forever all the results of this 
one form of sin, we would hardly need such things 
as prisons, asylums, charity houses, or police. The 
children of haggard want would sit in the halls of 
plenty. The tears of orphanage and widowhood, 
and disappointed hope, would dwindle in a goodly 
measure. Disease would be robbed of much of its 
power. The clouds would vanish from ten thousand 
afflicted homes. And peace breathe its fragrance 
on the world, almost as if the day of its redemption 
had come. 

E"ow for any man, in any way, to give his sanction 
and endorsement to such a dreadful vice, is a sin, 
and one which is enhanced in proportion to the 
official or social importance and dignity of him who 
does it. It is a sin for any man to drink to intoxica- 



FALL OF NADAB AND ABIHU. 183 

tion, no matter when or where ; it is a guilty unman- 
ning of himself; but it is a special and greater sin 
for one in high station, or much concerned in giving 
tone to public opinion. And for an intoxicated man 
to go to God's altar with the fumes and clouds of this 
crime upon him, is an abomination which cries unto 
heaven. ISTadab and Abihu, it appears, did this, and 
hence their awful end. Wherever there is sin, God's 
anger burns ; but fiercest of all does it burn about 
his holy altar, and upon those who venture to pollute 
his service with unholy breath or unsteady hands. 

But, although drunkenness was most likely the 
root of Nadab and Abihu' s offending, it was not the 
body of their crime. If the effects of alcoholic stimu- 
lation went no further than to cloud the mind and 
stupefy the natural senses of those who indulge in it, 
it would not be so bad. The great mischief is, that, 
as it clouds the moral nature, it kindles all the bad 
passions into redoubled activity. It not only enfeebles 
and expels all impulses of good, but it quickens and 
enthrones every latent evil, and fits a man for the 
ready performance of any vile and sacrilegious deed. 
If these men had not been first " set on fire of hell" 
by excessive indulgence in drink, they would never 
perhaps have been driven to the daring impiety which 
cost them their lives. But intoxication let the demon 
in, and when he was once admitted, the way was 
open for them to trample upon the holiest institutes 
of God, and they went headlong to their ruin. 

The head and front of the sin of these men, as I 
understand it, was the presumptuous substitution of 
a will- worship of their own, in defiance of what God 
had appointed. There is a constant tendency in 
our nature, to attempt to improve on what God 



184 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

has arranged for the good of man, and to engraft 
human inventions upon Divine institutions. Sin is 
ever sewing together fig-leaves to hide the shame of its 
nakedness. It was not enough for the Hebrew camp 
to have the visible symbol of the Divine presence in 
a pillar of ^alternate cloud and fire, they must needs 
have a golden calf in addition. Naaman is offended 
at the simple direction to go wash in the Jordan, and 
wants the prophet to come forth and strike his hand 
over the leprosy. Peter is not satisfied that Christ 
proposes to wash his feet, he wishes his hands and 
head included. It is not sufficient for the Pharisee 
to fast at the appointed times only, he will make the 
matter much better, and set apart three days every 
week for abstinence. Puseyism is not satisfied with 
the simple word of G-od, it must instal tradition by 
its side. Popery is not content with the invisible 
rule of Jesus in the heart, it must set up a lordly 
hierarchy to give reality to Christ's dominion, and to 
act as his visible vicar in the government of men. 
The two sacraments of God are quite too few for 
human wants, and great councils must be called to 
fabricate five more. And so these heated sons of 
Aaron were not content to abide by the ordinances 
which the Lord appointed, but must needs arrange 
matters to suit themselves. In three points did they 
offend — first, in the time ; second, in the manner ; and 
third, in the matter of the service which they under- 
took. It was the prerogative of Moses or Aaron to 
say when their services were needed ; but they went 
precipitately to work, without waiting for instructions, 
or asking for directions. It was for the high-priest 
alone to go in before the Lord and offer incense at 
the mercy-seat ; but they wickedly encroached upon 



FALL OF NADAB AND ABIHU. 185 

his functions, and went in themselves. Never more 
than one priest was to officiate in burning incense at 
the same time ; but they both together entered upon 
a service which did not belong to either. These 
things in themselves evince a very high-handed dis- 
regard of Divine order. But the great burden of 
their sin rested in the matter of the service. They 
" offered strange fire before the Lord, which he com- 
manded them not." 

All the fire used in the services of the Hebrew 
ritual was holy fire. It came from heaven. It was 
kindled by the Lord himself. Its origin is given in 
the last verse of the preceding chapter. "And there 
came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed 
upon the altar the burnt-offering." Special statutes 
had also been given for its careful preservation. In 
the sixth chapter, it was said, " The fire upon the 
altar shall be burning in it, it shall not be put out ; 
and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning. 
The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar ; it shall 
never go out." When subsequently lost in the wars 
of Saul and David, it was restored at the dedication 
of the temple, in the same manner that it had been 
originally given. It was doubtless from these mani- 
festations of G-od in fire, that many things found 
scattered through the heathen world took their rise. 
It was this Divine and ever-burning fire in the Jew- 
ish worship, that led Zoroaster and the Magi to incul- 
cate such holy reverence for fire, which was said to 
come from heaven and to be the emblem of God. 
To the same source may we trace the sacred fires of 
the Greeks, and the vestal lamps of the Romans. 
Indeed, all the religious rites of heathenism are but 
relics of a primitive revelation, or the distorted echoes 
16* 



186 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

of the voice of Jehovah, to the Jews at Mount Sinai. 
They are just so many collateral proofs of the truth 
of these records. Vesta is a Latin word, derived 
from, and corresponding to, the Greek Hestia, which 
is evidently from the Hebrew word JEsh, which means 
fire. And thus, through the vestal temples of Rome, 
and the sacred hearths of Greece, and the burning 
altars of Persia, we get back to the true Divine fire, 
which came out from God at the consecration of 
Aaron, and burned unceasingly on the altars of 
Israel. ~No incense was acceptable to God, but that 
which arose from coals of this holy fire. Jehovah 
will honor no devotion but that which he inspires. 
The censer was first to be filled with " burning coals 
of fire from off the altar before the Lord." Such 
was God's requirement. But Nadab and Abihu paid 
no regard to it. With their minds clouded, stupefied, 
and rendered reckless by " strong drink," they did 
not distinguish "between holy and unholy — unclean 
and clean." It was a wicked presumption in them 
to go, of their own accord, to offer incense at all; 
but it was an unpardonable profanation, when they 
did undertake it, not to be regardful of the appropriate 
materials. They " offered strange fire" — common fire 
— fire wholly foreign to the fire which God had kin- 
dled for such purposes. They thus obtruded what 
was profane into what was holy, desecrated God's 
ritual, cast contempt upon his institutions, put their 
own will- worship above his sacred regulations, and 
thus called down upon themselves a judgment which 
made all Israel tremble. They despised the sacred 
fire, and in return " there went out fire from the 
Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the 
Lord." 



FALL OF NADAB AND ABIHU. 187 

Let us now, in the second place, consider some of the 
implications, surroundings, and foreshadowings of 
this sad occurrence. 

"When I read the account of the sin of Aaron's 
sons at the organization of the old economy, my mind 
at once passes down to the organization of the Chris- 
tian system, and to the conduct of some of Christ's sons 
under the Gospel dispensation. From the history of the 
old, I descend to the history of the new ; and find 
so complete a correspondence, that I am constrained 
to take the one as a type of the other. The shadows 
of the future were linked in with the facts of the 
past. 

Scarcely had Christianity been constituted, until 
we find a foreign and fitful spirit insinuating itself 
into the operations of those into whose charge its 
earthly services had been given. Paul noticed it 
already in his day. " There shall come a falling 
away," said he, "and that man of sin be revealed, 
the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth 
himself above all that is called God, or that is wor- 
shipped. For the mystery of iniquity doth already 
work." John also directed attention to it, saying, 
" this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have 
heard that it should come ; and even now already it 
is in the world." The grass had hardly grown upon 
the graves of the apostles, until the reckless doings 
of spiritual intoxication gradually altered the primi- 
tive simplicities of the Gospel, usurped the preroga- 
tives of Jesus the High-priest, mingled the inventions 
of men with the appointments of God, and intro- 
duced strange fire into the holy tabernacle of the 
Lord God Almighty. 

Looking back upon the history of the Church, as 



188 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

it first went forth under its sublime inauguration to 
evangelize the nations, the first thing that strikes us 
is the gradual uprising, from the level of a common 
priesthood, of a lordly power in the hands of bishops, 
stealthily concentrating upon Metropolitans, then 
upon Patriarchs, and finally upon one supreme Pon- 
tiff, who, surrounded with his conclave of advisers, 
claims to have the keys of heaven, to open and shut, 
and go in and out, as to him may seem good. I look 
upon his magisterial assumptions, trampling God's 
Bible under his feet, arrogating to himself all earthly 
power, arraying himself in the attributes and titles 
of Jesus, instituting sacraments, and ordaining dog- 
mas of belief which God has not commanded, and 
undertaking with his heathen pomp to mediate be- 
tween earth and heaven, — I consider the nature of 
his proceedings, the elements of his assumptions, the 
spirit that underlies all his doings, — I analyze his 
whole official conduct, and reduce it to its princi- 
ples, — and when the whole thing is sifted, I find it 
to be nothing but a re-enactment of drunken Nadab, 
supplanting Aaron, taking the high-priesthood upon 
himself, and offering strange fire in the tabernacle 
of the Lord. 

Along with pontifical power, came in great doctri- 
nal and moral corruption. The one was a part of the 
other. They were developed together. They were 
brothers. As the Church grew, some became Juda- 
izers, and made the first move toward the corruption 
of the simplicities of the Gospel. Heathen men were 
brought in without a complete abjuration of all their 
heathen tastes and ideas. Gnosticism was the result, 
a kind of eclectic philosophico - religious system, 
weaving together all sorts of speculations, and wrap- 



FALL OF NADAB AND ABIHTJ. 189 

ping itself around the very heart of the Church. 
Mediaeval religion, with its denunciations of natural 
relations, its abnegations, monkery, priestly orders, 
saint-worship, superstition, auricular confession, in- 
dulgences, false works, and obscurations of the great 
Gospel doctrine of justification by faith, was the na- 
tural fruit of gnosticism. Penances, masses, priestly 
absolutions, purgatorial expiations, the mediation of 
clergy and saints, celibacy, and outward ceremony, 
were obtruded into the place of repentance, faith, 
charity, and obedience to Christ's own word. Bishops 
retired from the pulpits to sit as spiritual lords, supe- 
rior to all the kings of earth ; the virgin Mary was 
installed as the world's mediator ; earthly priests as- 
sumed the work of intercession, and undertook to 
forgive and license crime for a price ; the Church was 
driven to the wilderness ; the vomit of hell was upon 
the robes of Christ's affianced Bride ; another Abihu 
in his drunkenness had entered the holy place, and 
was offering strange fire before the Lord. 

And the thing that hath been, is the thing that is. 
Philosophy still has its additions to make to the word 
of God. Heathenish pomp still moves to lift itself 
up in our temples. Human reason is still at work to 
devise ways to worship and please God which he has 
not commanded. Men are still found who claim 
authority to perform offices for the souls of others, 
which belong only to our great High-priest in hea- 
ven. Thousands there are who flatter themselves 
that they are doing great things in their worship, 
though the spirit that is in them is not at all the 
Spirit of Christ. Inflated Nadabs and Abihus are 
everywhere seizing hold of sacred utensils, and rush- 



190 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

ing unbidden into the holy place, and offering strange 
fire in the tabernacle of God. 

But, it shall not always be so. There is a price 
annexed to all these usurpations and irregularities 
with regard to holy things. God has magnified his 
word above all his name ; and he that adds to, or 
takes from it, has his reward specified, and his por- 
tion reserved for him. Nadab and Abihu were sud- 
denly and miraculously cut off in the midst of their 
sin ; and so shall it be at last with all the confederates 
in usurpation and wrong, whether secular or eccle- 
siastical. Fire from the Lord shall slay them. "Jesus 
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty an- 
gels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that 
know not God, and that obey not the Gospel." So 
it is written, and so it shall be. In whatever the 
Man of sin may consist, the Lord shall destroy him 
with the appearance of his own presence. The arro- 
gant beast shall be smitten, and his body given to 
the burning flame. Great Babylon, that mother of 
harlotry and den of uncleanness, shall be " remem- 
bered before God, to give to her the cup of the wine 
of the fierceness of his wrath." "In one day shall 
her plagues come, death, and sorrow, and famine ; 
and she shall be burned with fire." As to the ad- 
herents of antichrist, " their fiesh shall consume away 
while they stand upon their feet ; and their eyes shall 
consume away in their sockets ; and their tongue 
shall consume away in their mouth ; and great tumult 
from the Lord shall be among them." And some 
of these days, when no one is at all expecting it, the 
red lightnings shall flash out from the opening hea- 
vens, and lay every Nadab and Abihu dead from one 
end of the earth to the other. And the congregation 



FALL OF NADAB AND ABIHU. 191 

of God's Israel " shall go forth, and look upon the 
carcasses of the men that have transgressed; for 
their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be 
quenched; and they shall be an abhorring to all 
flesh." 

An important feature connected with the occur- 
rence narrated in the text, is Aaron's relation to it. 
Nadab and Abihu were his children — his elder sons. 
"We can hardly conceive of anything more trying 
and painful to a father's heart, than to see his sons 
come to such an end. Ye that are parents, imagine 
yourselves in his place, and think of the awfulness 
of the blow which it would have been to you. Be- 
fore his eyes, and with unmistakeable certainty, his 
two boys at once sink for ever under the curse of 
God. How do you suppose he felt, as he gazed upon 
their dead bodies, lying at the foot of the incense 
altar, smote down by an angry Lord, with not one 
lingering ray of hope left to comfort a father's heart 
in his bereavement ? Yet, it is written, "Aaron held 
his peace." He knew that it was the Lord's doing; 
that it was done in the just vindication of the Divine 
holiness and glory ; that it was all richly deserved ; 
and though it carried off his two first-born sons to 
everlasting death, he "held his peace." He felt it, 
as any father would have felt it ; but the honor and 
glory of God was to him more precious and valuable 
than child or friend, and he did not dare to complain 
or lament when Jehovah's holy law took off his boys. 
One look at God exalted and glorified, was a suffi- 
cient cure for all his natural anguish. 

Serious people sometimes wonder how it shall be 
at the last day, — how godly parents shall be able to 
bear the sight of their Christless children given over 



192 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

to everlasting death ; whether the knowledge or sight 
of near and beloved relatives in perdition will not 
interrupt and destroy the peace of heaven. But, if 
such persons would reason upon the subject from a 
stand-point higher than the mere sympathies of na- 
ture, they- would have less trouble concerning it. 
Aaron looking upon his slain sons, is a picture of 
how it shall be. When God's ultimate judgments 
shall go into effect, their justice shall be so conspi- 
cuous, and the goodness and glory of God in them 
shall be so luminous and manifest, that it will not be 
in the power of any ransomed soul to think of de- 
murring, or indulging one tearful regret. When we 
come to see things in the light of heaven, every 
enemy of God will appear so essentially an enemy to 
ourselves and our peace, that, however otherwise re- 
lated to us, we will be glad to see them shut up in 
the dreadful prison-house for ever and for ever. God's 
dealings with the finally impenitent will be so neces- 
sary, so just, so essential to his holy government, yea 
so good, that not one ransomed soul shall dare, for 
an instant, to wish it otherwise. When he who died 
to save them shall once mark them out for perdition, 
and his great loving heart is brought to say, Let 
them go down to everlasting death, "Amen" shall 
be the response dictated by every conscience and 
every heart. We may sometimes feel now that such 
a state of things would be impossible. The mother 
looks upon the boy she bore and nourished on her 
breast, and says, to see that boy go down to hopeless 
ruin would change all heaven's glories into bitterness 
for me. The wife thinks of the partner of her life, 
and supposes she could not exist if she were to see 
him taken from her and buried in that grave which 



TALL OF NADAB AND ABIHU. 193 

knows no resurrection. The fond father yearns over 
the objects of his tender care, and thinks it would 
render Paradise a place of everlasting tears to know 
that those loved ones had been shut up with the devil 
and his angels. But all such imaginings are errone- 
ous exaltations of earthly and fleshly relationships 
above the principles of eternal justice. What are 
domestic ties and sympathies in comparison with the 
glorious will of our blessed Lord? Jesus says, "He 
that loveth father or mother more than me, is not 
worthy of me : and he that loveth son or daughter 
more than me, is not worthy of me." Every saint 
is fully wrapped up in the righteousness, wisdom, 
and goodness of his Lord. Everything that God does 
carries the heart of the ransomed one so completely 
with it, and so overwhelms and swallows up all other 
affections, that they are as utter nothing. Nadab and 
Abihu may die for ever under Aaron's very eyes, and 
yet God's honor and glory in it leave him not a tear to 
shed, and not a word of lamentation to utter. 

But Aaron was high-priest of Israel, as well as 
father to the slain. In this view his silent and tear- 
less submission gathers additional interest. As his 
priestly duties went on unhindered by any regrets 
and pains over the fall of his sons ; so is it with our 
great High-priest in. heaven. With all the defections 
of some of his children here, and with all the deep 
infliction which it is calculated to produce in his 
heart, the mitre is never once lifted from his brow, 
and not a single break does it ever occasion in the 
holy services of his priestly office. Many a pious 
heart has been saddened, and sickened almost unto 
death, over the calamities that have befallen the 
camp of the Lord in the shape of apostasies, false 
17 N 



194 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

doctrine, unholy living, and reckless usurpation. 
"Who among us, that could not tell the story of many 
a heart-rending fall in the Church of God ! More 
than once have I seen the young man, very zealous 
for Jehovah, and singled out by his friends as a 
model of virtue and piety, gradually relax his fervor, 
and lessen his activity, and discontinue his attentions 
to duty, until the den of the gambler took the place 
of the prayer-meeting, the cup of the drunkard the 
cup of the Lord, and the lewd song of the libertine 
that of the Psalms of Zion. More than once have 
I seen the man in affluent prosperity a great patron 
of the Church, prompt in his place in all the services 
of the sanctuary, and esteemed as one of Israel's 
elders ; but when reverses and bankruptcy came, I 
have seen him turn aside to walk in the ways of the 
ungodly, the forger, the counterfeiter, the robber, 
and even the ribald blasphemer. Many a time have 
I seen the poor man in his daily toil, seemingly walk- 
ing humbly with his God, and attentive to the things 
that relate to heavenly treasures ; but when the tide 
of fortune came and gave him riches, or advanced 
him to places of influence and distinction, he forgot 
his Church and pious associations, and drifted away 
into pride like Lucifer's, or into covetousness as 
niggardly as Shylock's. I have seen men of the 
loudest professions ; yea, men ordained to stand as 
watchmen on Zion's walls, secretly dallying with the 
demon of vicious appetite, until they became the 
reeling sport of boys upon the street, the shame of 
their denomination, and the tenants of ignoble graves. 
And history tells again and again of men whose 
heads reached unto the clouds, who in an unguarded 
hour came down, like some tall pine of the forest 



FALL OF NADAB AND ABIHU. 195 

which, makes the wilderness howl in its fall ; of 
impious hands touched to the holy vessels of God's 
sanctuary ; of false incense burned in the holy place, 
until the very lamps and stars were hid, and the very 
house of salvation made a den of robbery and death. 
But with all these deep wounds inflicted on the 
Savior's heart, his intercessions never stop. The duties 
of his priesthood go calmly on. He still remains 
the active friend and helper of the penitent, the 
ceaseless Advocate of his true people, the meek and 
attentive Savior of all who come unto him. 

One thought more, and I will close this discourse. 
Though Nadab and Abihu assumed Aaron's place 
and prerogatives, Aaron was still the ouly high- 
priest. Though they usurped his rights, they could 
not perform his work. K~o one could receive recon- 
ciliation to God through their services. Though 
the Pope presumes to occupy Christ's place, and 
assumes to himself Christ's titles and powers, he 
does not therefore become Christ, or succeed in doing 
Christ's work. The priest may pronounce the words 
of absolution, but they are not therefore forgiveness 
of sins. He may agree to take a soul safe to heaven, 
but his agreement avails nothing as to the security 
of that soul. Heretics may put falsehood in the 
place of God's truth, but it is no less falsehood be- 
cause it is so sacredly invested. Let who will under- 
take to fill Christ's offices, he is still the ouly Savior. 
Men may confess, and say prayers, and hear masses, 
and make pilgrimages, and endure fastings, and hire 
priests, and commit catechisms, and take veils, and 
make vows ; but, unless they come with an humble 
spirit directly to the Lord Jesus himself, and rest 
themselves in simple penitence and faith upon him, 



196 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

they take for priests those who are not priests. Popes 
may carry keys, and say they are the keys of heaven ; 
but when they come to try them, they will not fit 
Jehovah's locks, or throw open the everlasting doors. 
Let popes, and priests, and usurping innovators, 
make what pretence they please; Jesus says: a I 

HAVE THE KEYS OF HELL AND OF DEATH." I am " lie 

that openeth, and no man shutteth ; and shutteth, and 
no man openeth." And if Jesus has the keys, we 
know that no one else has them. They who think 
differently, do but dream, as drunken Nadab and 
Abihu; and all their will-worship shall only call 
forth the speedier and more awful death. Jesus is 
the Priest ; and no priesthood will avail but his. He 
is the priest, in spite of all invasions of his preroga- 
tives and rights. There is no Virgin Mary, no 
earthly vicar, no decrees of the Church, and no one, 
however called or constituted, that can ever fill the 
place of Him whom God hath made " The Apostle 
and High-priest of our profession." 

None but Jesus 
Can do helpless sinners good. 

"Would you come to the joys of forgiveness and 
eternal life, let no devices of men or spirits ever 
draw your soul away from God's own Anointed. 

Look to Jesus — 
Mercy flows through Him alone. 



ELEVENTH LECTURE. 

THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN. 

LEY. CHAP. XI. 

This chapter brings us to the third grand division 
of this book. We have had the offerings and the 
priests — the remedy provided for sin. We are now 
to have an exhibition of sin itself. "We have been 
shown the way of cure ; the next step is to open to 
us the disease, that we may be impelled to apply the 
means of relief. 

This is not the human method. Man would have 
considered the disease first. But God's ways are not 
as our ways. To make known to man the dreadful- 
ness of his spiritual condition, except in connection 
with a way of salvation already provided, won Id 
drive only to despair. God, therefore, constitutes 
the Physician, before giving a full view of the dis- 
order for which he is needed. The feast is first 
made ready, and then measures are taken to move 
and bring in the guests. Christ went through all the 
great facts of his mediatorial work, before the Spirit 
was sent to convince of sin, righteousness and judg- 
ment. Nor is it possible for us to have a right 
understanding of sin, except in the light which 
beams forth from Calvary. 

Great surprise and wonder have been expresed 
by some learned men, at the profound acquaint- 
ance with the animal kingdom exhibited in this 
17 * (197) 



198 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

chapter. Our greatest men of modern science have 
penetrated no deeper into natural history than the 
author of these laws. Leibnitz, and Buffon, and 
Cuvier, and Erxleben, and Humboldt, have been 
nnable to make any material advances upon the 
classifications and distinctions, in the nature, habits, 
and qualities of animals, here given long before mere 
human science, in these departments, was born. 
And those may well wonder, who allow no higher 
wisdom in these laws than that of mere man. The 
fact is, that these Mosaic institutes all have upon 
them such distinct traces of the hand and mind of 
God, that it becomes the height of folly to refer them 
to the mere ingenuity of man. And I will here say, 
what I truly believe, that it requires vastly more 
credulity to be an infidel, or so-called free-thinker, 
than to be a devout Christian believer. I am per- 
fectly satisfied, that people act more against the dic- 
tates of plain reason and common sense, in referring 
the profound science of the Pentateuch to the mere 
skill and attainments of Moses, than we do in tracing 
them to that Divine Wisdom which made the world, 
and fashioned the creatures who people it. It is no 
evidence of a great or investigating mind to discredit 
the witnesses which God has given of Himself. 
Admit that these regulations are divine in their 
source, and the wonder ceases — the miracle is ex- 
plained ; for he who created the beasts, birds, fishes, 
reptiles and insects which inhabit the earth, knew 
exactly how to classify them, and to prescribe con- 
cerning their nature. Where, but from God, Moses 
got such wisdom, can never be explained. 

This division of animated nature into clean and 
unclean, as all the rest of these Mosaic institutes, is, 



THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN. 199 

of course, to be taken typically. It had direct and 
natural reasons, but those were not the chief. Some 
of the forbidden creatures are really not unclean or 
unfit for food, but nearly as good as some which 
were permitted to be used. This is not generally 
true, or to any very great extent ; but the simple fact 
that an animal is proscribed in these laws as unclean, 
does not necessarily imply that it is in its nature 
unfit to be eaten, or of a detestable character. All 
that God has made is good, and embodies divine 
wisdom and thought. The prohibition is ceremonial. 
It is an arrangement somewhat arbitrary, perhaps, 
meant to meet national and religious purposes. The 
leading intent is typical and moral. The grand aim 
is to imbue the mind with an idea of moral distinc- 
tions; whilst the interdiction is conformed as near 
as may be needful to the nature and habits of the 
creatures interdicted. 

There is, then, a mingling in these laws of several 
aims or ideas, each of which deserves attention, and 
to an exhibition of which I propose to devote this 
discourse. 

I. I find in this chapter a system of wholesome 
dietetics. All the animals here pronounced clean, 
are the most valuable, nutritious and wholesome of 
creatures for human food. It does not follow that 
none among those forbidden are good for food ; but 
I wish to say, that it is certain, all the animals here 
called "clean" are the best. Science, and the com- 
mon sense of mankind, have decided, that the grain- 
eating and ruminative animals, which divide the hoof 
and chew the cud, are altogether the most healthful 
and delightful for the table. The hog, which, under 
this enumeration, is only half clean, is not near so 






200 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

good an article for food, as the sheep, the cow, the 
deer, and animals of that class. All physicians tell 
us so, and facts and experience demonstrate their 
correctness. Swine's flesh is specially unwholesome 
in warm climates, predisposing its consumers to all 
sorts of cutaneous, scorbutic, leprous diseases. I 
have no doubt that many maladies prevalent among 
us take their type, if not their origin, from a too free 
use of this sort of food. It is surprising, when we 
come to think of it, how the flesh or fat of the hog 
is mixed up with the great mass of the dishes that 
come upon our tables. It would, perhaps, be better 
for us, if it were not so. It is said of the Jews, who 
religiously abstain from swine's flesh, that in time 
of epidemic plague or pestilence, they never suffer 
to the same extent with their swine-eating neighbors. 
I cannot vouch for the truth of the remark ; but I 
find it announced with confidence. This is in the 
case of but one class of animals. An examination 
throughout will show, that the nutriment afforded 
by the fiesh of animals interdicted in this old cere- 
monial law, is less in quantity, inferior in quality, 
and more favorable to the production of scrofulous 
and inflammatory complaints, than any included in 
the list of permitted meats. It was, therefore, a 
great mercy in God, in those days of inexperience 
and exposure, so to frame his legislation as to protect 
his people against the use of what would have been 
deleterious. This was not the great, but only an 
incidental, intention of the enactment; showing, 
however, in what minute details and collateral bear- 
ings the hand of God is concerned for the good of 
those who obey him. This law is no longer binding 
upon us, as a religious appointment. Christ has 



THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN. 201 

entirely superseded it in this respect. Bnt it may 
still serve as a guide to our science, and is worthy 
of careful consideration in connection with dietetics 
and hygiene. 

II. A second, and somewhat more direct aim of 
these arrangements, looked to the keeping of the 
Hebrews entirely distinct from all other people. 
They were to be the light and truth-bearing nation 
among the families of man. They were elected to 
perpetuate a knowledge of the true God ; and, by 
their peculiar training, to prepare the way for Christ 
and Christianity. To fulfil this mission, they needed 
to be strongly fenced in, and barricaded against the 
subtle inroads of idolatry. And it was, in part, to 
effect this segregation of the Jewish people, that this 
system of religious dietetics was instituted. Nothing 
more effectual could be desired to keep one people 
distinct from another. It causes the difference be- 
tween them to be ever present to the mind, touching, 
as it does, at so many points of social and every-day 
contact ; and it is therefore far more powerful in its 
results, as a rule of distinction, than any difference 
in doctrine, worship or morals, which men could 
entertain. Xitto says, that when in Asia, he had 
almost daily occasion to be convinced of the incalcu- 
lable efficacy of such distinctions in keeping men 
apart from strangers. A Mahomedan, for instance, 
might be kind, liberal, indulgent ; but the recurrence 
of a meal, or any eating, threw him back upon his 
own distinctive practices and habits, reminding him 
that you were an unclean person, and that his own 
purity was endangered by contact with you. Your 
own perception of this feeling in him is not to you 
less painful and discouraging to intercourse, than its 



202 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 






existence is to him who entertains it. It is a mutual 
repulsion continually operating ; and its effect may 
be estimated from the fact, that no nation, in which 
a distinction of meats was rigidly enforced as a part 
of a religious system, has ever changed its religion. 
It was utterly impossible for the Jews to observe the 
inculcations of this chapter and be at all familiar in 
their association with surrounding nations. Animals 
of the ox kind were sacred to the Egyptians, and 
were never slaughtered for food ; whilst they made 
free use of others here pronounced unclean. The 
Phoenicians or Canaanites ate swine's flesh, and even 
dogs, as well as other animals which the Jews were 
forbidden to touch. The Arabs ate the camel as 
common food, the hare, the jerboa, all of which are 
specified or included in the Mosaic prohibitions. 
This chapter was therefore a wall of exclusion to the 
Jews, separating between them and all other people, 
which has withstood all the wastes and changes of 
more than three thousand years. 

III. A still further and more direct intent of these 
religious dietetics was, to train the understanding to 
the perception of moral distinctions — to engrave 
upon the mind an idea of holiness. Indeed, this was, 
one of the leading objects of the entire ceremonial 
law. We are sometimes tempted to regard these 
ancient rites as puerile and foolish ; but it is because 
we do not consider the relation they sustain to what 
we now think so much better and more rational. 
There are islands in the sea which would not exist, 
but for the coral reefs upon which they rest; and so 
there would be no Christianity without these cere- 
monial regulations, which, by small beginnings, laid 
in the human mind the foundations upon which all 



THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN. 203 

our Christian convictions have been wrought out. 
Geologists tell us, that the physical world is composed 
of various layers, one on the other, from a deep granite 
base up to the fertile mould which furnishes us food 
while we live, and graves when we are dead. It is 
much the same in the moral and religious world. It 
has been brought forth by degrees. As there have 
been many geologic eras, so there have been various 
religious dispensations, each one furnishing the basis 
for the next succeeding. Each of these successive 
dispensations furnished a distinct stratum upon which 
the following one was built. The last could not exist 
without the first. Each one is a part of the grand 
whole. And had it not been for these Jewish cere- 
monies, our moral and religious ideas would perhaps 
be worse and more confused than those of Turks or 
depraved Hindoos. The broad sunlight cannot be let 
in upon the tender eyes of infancy at once. It must 
at first be veiled and shaded until the powers of 
vision strengthen and develop. It must be let in by 
degrees, or the infant shall never be able to see at 
all. And so it has been in the history of God's deal- 
ings with man as a race. It was only by the slow 
and regular, and progressive gradations of types, or- 
dinances, and veiled prophecies, and outward mira- 
cles, that the world has come by that spiritual en- 
lightenment and moral understanding which now 
distinguish the Christian nations. 

Connecting this chapter with the laws concerning 
offerings and priests, we can easily see how the whole 
would operate in begetting and establishing the idea 
of purity and holiness. Dividing off all animated 
nature into clean and unclean, some would be regarded 
as better and purer than others. Of this pure kind 



204 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

only, could be taken for sacrifices. And even of the 
better kind, only the purest and most spotless indi- 
viduals were to be selected. The sacrificial victim 
would hence appear very widely separated from the 
common herd of living creatures, and very clean 
and good. A thoroughly cleansed and consecrated 
oificer was then to take it in charge, and wash both 
it and himself before it could come upon the altar. 
And when the presentation was to be made to the 
Lord in the most holy place, only the pure blood, in 
a golden and consecrated bowl, could be brought, 
and even that with great fear and trembling. Thus, 
from the clean beast, and the cleaner priest, and the 
still further cleansing of both, and the most holy 
place which could be approached only by so holy a 
personage with such sacred circumspection, the wor- 
shipper was taught the idea of holiness, the intense 
purity of his God, and the necessity of holiness in 
order to come into his favor. Each additional par- 
ticular was so ordered as to reflect purity and sanctity 
on all the rest, converging ray upon ray to bring out 
in luminous prominence the great conception of 
Holiness. Apart from these ancient services, the 
world knows not what holiness is. Ask a man, who 
has even enjoyed the clear light of the Gospel, What 
is holiness ? and it will be impossible for him to give 
any clear view of it without recurring, in some shape, 
to these ceremonial regulations, by which the idea 
itself was generated and formed. It is an abstract 
quality which has no place in the thoughts of man, 
except as derived from the outward separations, 
washings, and consecrations of this ritual. It is 
said, that " there is demonstrative evidence of the 
fact, that the idea of perfect moral purity, as connected 



THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN. 205 

with the idea of God, is now, and always has been, the 
same which was originated and conveyed to the minds 
of the Jews by the machinery of the Levitical dispensa- 
tion." It is certain that the Hebrew word translated 
holy, was used to express the idea of sanctity as pre- 
sented in the tabernacle service. It is a predicate of 
physical purity and cleanness. Hence it was used to 
signify separation, consecration, of higher qualities 
than the common multitude, the state of devotion to 
sacred purposes, and ultimately moral purity. The 
Greek word for holy, when received into the ~New 
Testament, took a meaning which was from the He- 
brews, and not from the Greeks. Even our Saxon 
word holy, in Christian language, drops for the most 
part its old signification of entireness, and takes 
mainly the Jewish idea of cleanness and sanctity. 
Nor do I know of any word, in any language, ancient 
or modern, to convey the Scriptural conception of 
holiness, without first borrowing that meaning from 
the Jews and the old ceremonial system. The fact 
is, that the religious world has derived its idea of 
moral purity from the Mosaic rites. It was part of 
their great office to teach mankind moral distinctions, 
and to open the human understanding and conscience 
to the idea of sanctity. 

IV. Connected with this, then, was the still fur- 
ther intent of these laws to give a picture of sin. 
We here have the finger of God, pointing out on the 
great map of living creation, the natural and material 
symbols of depravity. The various kinds of unclean 
animals are just so many living hieroglyphics, setting 
forth the un cleanness of man. 

You have often heard persons, in common dis- 
course, speaking of the beastliness of vice. It is an 
18 



206 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

apt comparison ; but it is exactly that which God 
himself has made in these laws. The combined 
characteristics of the creatures here declared unclean, 
furnish an exact exhibition of what sin is. They 
constitute a living mirror in which the sinner may 
look at himself. 

In the first place he is unclean, filthy, disagreeable, 
noxious. There may be some good qualities, as there 
were in many of the unclean creatures ; but, upon 
the whole, he is unclean. Impurity is upon him. 
He is unfit for holy association, or to come acceptably 
before God. As Eliphaz, the Temanite, once said, 
" abominable and filthy is man." " They are altogether 
become filthy," says the Psalmist. And whoever the 
sinner may be, he is in the eye of God, and the true 
people of God, an unclean person. 

In the next place, he is brutish. His character is 
typified by the vile and noxious of living things. He 
was originally made but a little lower than the angels ; 
but he sinned by listening to a brute reptile, and he 
has been changed into its likeness. What is a brute ? 
A thing without reason or conscience, which lives by 
mere impulse, and follows no law but its own animal 
promptings. And what are the effects of sin upon 
him in whom it reigns ? It dethrones intellect and 
makes it the slave of mere impulse, nullifies the de- 
ductions of wisdom, stifles and overrides the con- 
science, and makes the man the servant of lust, 
living only for selfish gratification, and following 
only the dictates of the baser nature. Sin prostitutes 
everything angelic in man. It enslaves his spirit to 
the flesh, subordinates his intellect to his desires, and 
binds down the whole moral constitution, like another 
Mazeppa, upon the wild horse of passion. Whatever 






THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN. 207 

the sinner has in him more than an unclean brute, is 
led captive by what he has in common with the 
brute ; so that he may well say with Agur, the son 
of Jakeh, "I am brutish." With all that can be 
urged in his favor, he is " altogether brutish." 

A brute is a thing bent downward. It goes upon 
its hands. Its face is towards the ground. It never 
travels erect. And what is a slave of sin, but one 
whose eyes have been diverted from heaven, and 
whose absorbing attention is directed to what is 
earthy ? Sin brings man down from contemplating 
the lofty things of God and eternity. It sets his 
affections on things below, instead of things above. 
It takes from his face the angelic look of innocence, 
and makes him drop his eyes in betrayal of the vile 
feelings that play in his hidden heart. 

A brute is a creature destined to perish. Its spirit 
goeth downward. Its end is extinction. How like 
the sinner in his guilt ! What hope has he for 
another world ? " The fool and the brutish person 
perish,'" says the Psalmist. Sin dooms to eternal 
death. It puts out eventually every light of the 
sinner's being. It extinguishes all his proper life. 
It sinks him for ever. His end is symbolized by that 
of " the brute which perisheth." 

But he is not only like what all brutes are in com- 
mon, but also more or less like what the several 
kinds of unclean creatures are in particular. Sin is 
the ugliness and spitefulness of the camel ; the bur- 
rowing, secretive, wily disposition of the coney, the 
rabbit, and the fox ; the filthy sensuality of the hog ; 
the stupid stubbornness of the ass ; the voracious 
appetency of the dog, the wolf, the jackall, and 
hyena ; the savage ferocity and blood thirstiness of 



208 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

the tiger, the panther, and the lion ; the sluggish- 
ness of the sloth ; the prowling shyness and cruelty 
of the cat ; and the base treachery and mischievous- 
ness of multitudes of unclean creatures that roam 
in darkness. Sin, enthroned in the soul, is the eagle 
clutching innocence in his talons, and tearing out 
its heart with his bloody beak. It is the vulture, 
with his base taste, seeking out what is abominable, 
and gormandizing upon foul putrescence. It is the 
owl taking advantage of darkness to surprise its 
prey, hooting about the abodes of quietness, and 
shrinking away to hide from approaching light. It 
is the slimy fish that creeps among the mud, the 
poisonous snake watching in the grass, and the legged 
and scaly thing whose numerous tribes crawl on all 
the land and in all the sea. It is the abominable 
thing which God hateth. 

There are many who make light of sin, and often 
esteem it very sweet. Let such study God's special 
symbols of it, and they will be led to view it in a 
different light. There is nothing in all the living 
world around us so loathsome, vile, hateful, danger- 
ous, destructive, and abhorrent, but sin exceeds it. 
It is of all things the most hideous — an un cleanness 
which cannot be expressed — a nlthiness so intense 
that God cannot look upon it with the least degree 
of allowance. 

But it is just as abundant as it is hateful. The 
unclean creatures are as numerous and abounding 
as they are base. The air is full of them ; the earth 
is alive with them ; the ocean teems with innumer- 
able kinds of them. They cover every mountain ; 
they crowd every plain. The crevices of the rocks 
are filled with them ; the deserts have them as 



THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN. 209 

numerous as sands. The trees of the forests are 
thick with them ; every stream and fountain contains 
them. They move about every street ; they play in 
every field. They are upon the most beautiful 
flowers, and crawl within the most guarded enclo- 
sures. They are in our houses ; they come up upon 
our tables ; they creep into our very beds. They 
are present in every climate. They may be seen at 
all seasons. They are as wide-spread as the surface 
of the world. They continue with all generations. 
And as these unclean things abound, so does sin 
abound; for they are God's natural types of sin. 

And looking at the appointments of this chapter 
as a mere remembrancer of sin, it seems to me very 
remarkable. How impressive the arrangement ! All 
living nature, by a few simple words, at once 
transmuted into a thousand tongues to remind and 
warn of sin and uncleanness ! The living monitor 
would meet the devout Jew at every point, and call 
to him in words of sacred admonition from every 
direction. Sitting down to table, a fly alighting upon 
the clean linen, would be a remembrancer that 
unholiness is at hand, ready to mingle with all his 
enjoyments. Opening his closet, the sight of a little 
mouse would be the sign to him that evil is likely 
to insinuate itself into the very devotions of secresy. 
Looking out at his window, the passing of a camel, 
or a dog, or a bird of prey, would be a memorial to 
him to make a covenant with his eyes, and to guard 
the approaches of uncleanness. Sitting down under 
his vine or fig-tree, or going forth to gather a few 
flowers, the little insects crawling on the leaves, 
would be monitors of the presence of evil. "Walking 
out into the field, the snail in the path, the hare 
18* o 



210 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

starting in the thicket, the snake gliding through 
the grass, the lizard darting down the side of a log, 
or the coney looking out from among the pile of 
rocks, either would serve to recall the fact that 
Jehovah's eye is on him, and that he can have no 
fellowship^ with uncleanness. Approaching the sil- 
very stream or the glassy lake, the frog leaping in 
from under his feet, the turtle jutting his foul head 
from the surface, the crooked eel making his way 
through the waters, and slimy things showing their 
presence in the marshes, each would have a voice, 
bidding him beware, and proclaiming uncleanness 
in all earth's purity. Ascending the mountain cliffs, 
the croak of the raven there, the rattle of the serpent 
among the leaves, the eagle darting down savagely 
from the summit, the track of the wolf upon the 
sand, or the den of the fox beneath his feet, would 
be a memorial to him, that all the heights of earthly 
exaltation are full of savageness, poison, filthiness, 
and deceit. Looking down upon the open plain, 
the vultures there contending over their foul food, 
the fish-hawk on hovering wing watching to dart 
upon his prey in the waters beneath, and the hoopoe 
flitting hither and thither in search of worms and 
ugly insects, would be a remembrancer of the base 
appetites and dispositions which work in fallen man, 
and against which he should keep guard. Coming 
homeward in the evening, the heavy hoot of the owl 
greeting him from the hills, and the vile bat flapping 
her greasy wings about his face, and the toad hopping 
in his path at his feet, and a thousand noxious in- 
sects buzzing through the air as he breathes, each 
would be a picture and sermon to him as to how 
thoroughly and at all times he is beset and enveloped 






THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN. 211 

with, vileness and sin, endangering his hopes and 
peace. And even to ns at this remote age, the great 
lesson still comes flashing upon us vivid and strong 
from this self-same law, that at home or ahroad, 
asleep or awake, on land and on sea, in the heights 
above and in the depths beneath, everywhere and in 
every condition upon this earth, sin encompasses 
us, and swarms around us, and cleaves to us, and 
works in us. 

Some object to such an account of man's moral 
condition. They would pronounce this picture quite 
too highly colored. But it is the picture which God 
himself gives in the hieroglyphics of his ancient 
ritual, and has announced in plain words in his 
Gospel. All these dark lines upon the living world 
of outward nature, have their counterpart in the 
moral world within. We may think it incredible 
that humanity should be so disordered and debased, 
or that uncleanness should so much abound; but 
that does not alter the facts. God knew what was 
in man, and what sort of creatures, and how many 
of them, he declared unclean. He knew exactly 
what sort of a picture all these living symbols put 
together would make. And with all, he solemnly 
said, Let it be so. " The heart of man is deceitful 
above all things, and desperately wicked ; who can 
know it?" Iniquity is a " mystery." It is more 
than we can understand. It is an ocean which we 
are not able to fathom — a darkness which no light 
of this world can thoroughly illume. Look over the 
histories of war, tyranny, persecution, and butcheries 
of men, as they have stained the annals of every 
age ; and see whether there is aught in the bloody 
doings of birds or beasts of prey to exceed it. Ex- 



212 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

amine the records of lewdness, intemperance, and 
gluttonous debauchery, and say wherein the accounts 
fall below what we see in the nature or habits of the 
vilest of brute creatures. Survey the profaneness, 
the grovelling passions, the fierce enmities, the 
malicious spites, the base deceits, the carnal pollu- 
tions, and the ten thousand forms of vice which 
breathe like a sirocco over every clime of the popu- 
lated world, and point out, if you can, in all the 
rounds of brute passions, anything to equal what has 
been seen in man. 

And yet, what we see, and hear, and read of, bad 
as it is, is not the whole depth of human unclean- 
ness. !Not a thousandth part of the evil that is in 
the world is ever manifest to the outward beholder. 
History is mostly made up of recitals of sin, and 
wrongs, and wars, and feuds, and rebellions, and 
gigantic crimes; but there is a world upon which 
historians have not yet looked — a world in which 
man appears exactly what he is — a world far wider 
and deeper than the world without — a world in which 
all history is enacted before it becomes history — I 
mean the hidden world of the heart. Oh, what ani- 
mosities, and murders, and envies, and jealousies, 
and adulteries, and uncleannesses, and dark thoughts 
of blood and death, exist there without ever once 
being suspected by the outward observer ! We are 
sickened at every day's reports of open, uncontrolled, 
actual, villainy and crime. "What, then, would this 
life look like, if we could just lift the cover, and see 
in addition all that is unseen and unheard ! I have 
sometimes thought that when the day shall come for 
the all-knowing Lord to lay open every work with 
every secret thing, the histories of man would look 
like annals of hell and biographies of devils! 






THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN. 213 

I do not say that there is no good in the world. 
There are clean as well as unclean. There always 
have been good and piety in the earth, and some 
virtuous ones among the base. Jehovah, in all ages, 
has been gathering to himself a people for his name, 
who shall shine as stars for ever and ever. And this 
law served the Jew as a remembrance of goodness 
and holiness, as well as sin and uncleanness. Going 
forth to his flocks grazing in the quiet pastures, those 
gentle creatures would speak to his mind of the clean 
and holy ones whom the Lord keeps as u the people 
of his pasture and the sheep of his hand." Behold- 
ing the wild goat amid solitary rocks, he would feel 
himself taught of hidden ones whom God keeps in 
the deep solitudes, and for whose safety he provides 
as for the wild goat on its precipices. The gazelle, 
amid the fragrant shrubs, walking at large amid 
earth's richest scenery, would tell of the beauty of 
holiness, and of chosen ones who walk in grace amid 
the thick showered blessings of an approving God. 
But, with all, there were more vile than clean. With 
all the good that is in the world, there is an awful 
pravity upon man in general, and upon unchristian 
men in particular. "What saith the Scripture ? " Their 
throat is an open sepulchre ; with their tongues they 
have used deceit ; the poison of asps is under their 
lips ; their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness ; 
their feet are swift to shed blood ; destruction and 
misery are in their ways." (Rom. 3 : 13-16.) 

My brethren, we have not escaped this unclean- 
ness which has gone out over all the earth. " If any 
man say that he hath no sin he deceiveth himself, 
and the truth is not in him." We are members of a 
fallen and corrupt race. All God's dealings with us 



214 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

are such as to teach us that we are guilty in his sight. 
But we are not left to despair. Along with the dis- 
closure of our disease is the exhibition of an ample 
remedy. Sin abounds, but grace does much more 
abound. Our uncleanness is intense ; but mercy 
holds out to us the means of complete and glorious 
deliverance. A fountain has been opened ; and all 
we have to do is, to wash and be clean. The great 
God calls to us from the heavens, saying, U I am the 
Lord your God, ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, 
and ye shall be holy ; for 1 am holy" 

Nor can we be at a loss to ascertain what that 
sanctification or washing is. Ugly passions must be 
abjured as unclean. Swinish lusts must be crucified. 
Carnal loves of darkness and filth must be renounced. 
Those creeping and grovelling propensities which 
work so powerfully in fallen man, must be abandoned. 
That animal proneness must be laid aside for an up- 
lifted look which fastens on the skies. That savage 
selfishness must be cast away as vile. That troop of 
unclean thoughts which infest the soul must be 
brushed out with abhorrence. The mere touch of 
what is defiling must be shrunk from with horror. 
And so must we compass the altar of Calvary, lean- 
ing on the head and trusting in the blood of the 
Lamb, until the Eternal king shall say, " It is enough ; 
come up higher." 

Sinner, wilt thou accept of these conditions, and 
fly to the refuge thus set before thee ? Thy Savior 
once again knocks at the door of thy heart, saying, 
"Wilt thou not be made clean?" A blessed immor- 
tality hangs on the answer thou shalt give. "Wilt 

THOU NOT BE MADE CLEAN ?" 



TWELFTH LECTURE. 

BIRTH-SIN AND ITS DEVELOPMENTS. 

LEV. CHAPTERS XII. XIII. 

A popular and eloquent living preacher has re- 
marked of the first of these chapters, that " its chief 
value lies in the light it casts upon the Virgin Mary 
at the birth of our blessed Redeemer." To this ob- 
servation I am not prepared to assent. This chapter 
is interesting to Christians as containing the law for 
the purifying of mothers, which the mother of Jesus 
so meekly obeyed when she brought the two doves 
as an offering in her poverty for a sacrifice unto the 
Lord; but " its chief value lies" in quite another 
direction. Its particular descriptions are not such as 
to allow much freedom of public comment, but they 
fill an important place in the typical system to which 
they belong. 

The theme of the chapter is the same as that of 
the one preceding and the one following. The sub- 
ject is sin, portrayed by symbols. In the division of 
the animals into clean and unclean, we had the 
nature of sin in its general character and outward 
manifestations. It is a brutalization of humanity. 
It has its type in all sorts of savage, noxious, vile, 
annoying creatures. But this chapter presents an- 
other and still more affecting phase of man's corrup- 
tion. 

Surveying those masses of sin and vileness which 

(215) 



216 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

hang about our world, touching the path and defiling 
the doings of every human being, as we saw in our 
last discourse, the question arises, Whence comes it ? 
How are we to account for it ? That some particular 
periods, nations, families, or individuals should be 
depraved and vicious, might perhaps be explained in 
peculiar outward circumstances. Bad education, bad 
government, bad religion, bad associations, begetting 
bad habits, might, in a measure account for it. But 
the records of inspiration and experience assure us 
that " all have sinned and come short," and that " if 
any man say he hath no sin, he deceiveth himself, 
and the truth is not in him." There is not a corner 
of the earth, nor a member of the race, which the 
great contamination has not touched. The soil of 
sin is upon every conscience, and its uncleanness is 
more or less in every heart. To what source or 
cause are we to refer this melancholy fact ? It is 
useless to attribute it to errors in the structure of 
society ; for society itself is the mere aggregate of 
human life, feelings, opinions, intercourse, agreement 
and doings. It is man that corrupts society, and not 
society that corrupts man. The one may react very 
powerfully upon the other, as we shall see hereafter ; 
but the errors and corruptions in both must have a 
common seat and source. What is that seat ? "Where 
are we to find this prolific fountain ? Penetrating to 
the moral signification of the twelfth chapter of 
Leviticus, we have the true answer. 

Sin is not only a beastliness and grovelling brutality 
assumed or taken upon a man from without. It is a 
manifestation which comes from within. It is a cor- 
ruption which cleaves to the nature, mingles with the 
very transmissions of life, and taints the vital forces 



1 



BIRTH-SIN AND ITS DEVELOPMENTS. 217 

as they descend from parent to child, from generation 
to generation. "We are unclean, not only practically 
and by contact with a bad world, but we are innately 
impure. Man is a creature of wrong impulses, not 
only by education and association, for he would be 
the same if he were born in heaven. Uncleanness 
is upon the very seat of life, and attaches to every 
one of us from our very coming into the world. We 
were conceived in sin. We were shapen in iniquity. 
And it is just this that forms the real subject of this 
chapter. It is the type of the source and seat of 
human vileness. 

The uncleanness here spoken of, is no more a real 
uncleanness, than that attributed to certain animals, 
in the preceding chapter. The whole regulation is 
ceremonial, and not at all binding upon us, (though 
a relic of it is still found in some of the churches, 
known by the name of " The Churching of Women"). 
It is an arbitrary law, made only for the time then 
present, as a figure of spiritual truths. Its great 
significance lies in its typical nature. And a more 
vivid and impressive picture can hardly be conceived. 
I am checked from entering particularly into it ; but 
solemn and sacred allusions are suggested by it. It 
imposes a special legal disability upon woman, and 
so connects with the fact, that " the woman being 
deceived was in the transgression." (1 Tim. 2 : 24.) 
It is a vivid remembrancer of the occurrences in 
Eden. It tells us that we all have come of sinful 
mothers. It exhibits our very birth as involving un- 
cleanness. It portrays defilement as the state in 
which we receive our being. For " who can bring a 
clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." (Job. 
14 : 4.) 

19 



218 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

I therefore lay down this doctrine, " that all men 
who are naturally engendered, are conceived and 
born in sin ; that is, they are all, from their mother's 
womb, full of evil desires and propensities;" and 
that this " is the fountain-head of all other or actual 
sins, such as evil thoughts, words, or deeds." 

I am acquainted with the cavils which exist with 
reference to this doctrine. And the way some state 
it, I would not undertake to defend it. Some call it 
"natural depravity," and say that man is a sinner 
" by nature." To say the least of this, it is a misap- 
plication of terms. JSTature is God's work ; and God 
never made sin. ~No being ever came from his hands 
with a corrupt or wicked nature. He never made a 
devil or a sinner. And concupiscence and guilt, so 
far from being natural to man, are monstrous perver- 
sions and spoliations of nature. It is not natural; 
but, of all things, the most unnatural. God made 
man upright and good. And if people now have 
upon them a predisposition to sin, it must be traced 
to some other source than that of natural constitu- 
tion. I will join with all heartiness in the expressions 
of abhorrence at the idea that a holy, just, and bene- 
volent God should have created any being with a 
nature the inherent tendency of which is to sin. 
How, then, are we to solve the difficulty? If the 
Creator never constitutes any being with an evil na- 
ture, how is it that all men are born in corruption, 
and inclined to sin from their very birth? Some 
have tried to explain it by supposing a previous state 
of probation. But this solution is so far-fetched, and 
implies a punishment so wholly divorced from all 
consciousness of the sin that produced it, that it 
never has commanded serious belief. How, then^ 



BIRTH-SIN AND ITS DEVELOPMENTS. 219 

are we to get out of the difficulty ? A very few words 
will clear up the matter to all right philosophy. 

What is an individual human being as he now 
comes into existence ? Is he a new creation, separate 
and distinct in himself? I say he is not. A modern 
man is not an original product of creative power. 
He is not now first created. He is only an outgrowth 
of one primal humanity which was created nearly six 
thousand years ago. He is an evolution from princi- 
ples of life which were constituted in the garden of 
Eden. Humanity is a stream flowing from one ori- 
ginal fountain. God never directly made more than 
one man and one woman; and all other men and 
women are hut effluxes of that original creation. 
Nobody now is created, in any true sense of that word, 
but begotten and born of a creation made thousands 
of years ago. Any conception of humanity which 
differs from this, is physiologically and scripturally 
false. The creation of the first pair was a self-per- 
petuating creation ; and therefore the only creation, 
as respects human existence. There is therefore a 
very important sense in which we were made in 
Adam. We are but repetitions of the first pair, ac- 
cording to laws which were located in them. "We 
take our whole being, body and soul, from and through 
Adam. And there is no mere humanity but what 
has grown out of him. The whole race was once in- 
cluded in him. It is easy, therefore, to see, that 
whatever damage may have befallen human nature 
when yet in its parent root or fountain, must needs 
show itself more or less in all the branches and 
streams issuing from it. "Like begetteth like." As 
is the seed, so is the tree ; and as is the tree, so is the 
fruit. "A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit." 




220 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

You may plant a good seed, and surround it with all 
the conditions necessary to a goodly plant; but it 
may put forth so eccentrically, or meet with some 
mishap in the incipient stages of its development, in 
consequence of which all its subsequent growth will 
be marred, and all its fruits give evidence of the ad- 
versities that befell it in the beginning. You may 
open a pure fountain, giving forth nothing bnt pure 
good water ; yet, the issuing stream may touch upon 
poison, and take up turbid commixtures at its first 
departure from its source, and so carry and show 
pollution whithersoever it goes. And so it has been 
with humanity. It was created pure and good ; but 
by that power of free choice, which necessarily be- 
longs to a moral being, some of its first movements 
were eccentric and detrimental to its original quali- 
ties. It absorbed vileness at its very beginning. It 
was hurt when it was yet all in its germ. And hence 
all its subsequent developments have upon them the 
taint of that first mishap and contagion. It is worse 
in some lines than in others. The operations of Di- 
vine grace in the parent doubtless help to enfeeble it 
in the child. And if all men could be at once re- 
claimed to complete holiness, it would no doubt dis- 
appear altogether in the course of generations. But, 
as things are, it to some extent taints every one that 
is engendered and born of human kind. 

Now it is just to this universal taint of human na- 
ture, derived from the defection of Adam, that the 
whole outgrowth of this word's iniquity is to be 
traced. By virtue of our relation to an infected pa- 
rentage, we come into the world with more or less 
affinity for evil. There is an innate inclination to 
wrong. The presentation of the objects to which 



BIRTH- SIN AND ITS DEVELOPMENTS. 221 

this proclivity leans, awakens those biases into acti- 
vity. This awakening of the power of lust is what 
we call temptation. And when the force of tempta- 
tion has once set the heart upon an object of base 
desire, and gained the consent of the will to it, the 
man moves toward evil, and actual sin is born. There 
is an innate taint or bias, the presentation to which 
of the objects of evil desire involuntarily excites lust; 
and from this has flown out the flood of evil which 
has deluged all the earth. 

It would be easy to amplify these views by passages 
of Scripture, and to trace them in the impressive 
picture contained in the chapter before us ; but I will 
detain you to make but one other remark in refer- 
ence to the general subject. And that is, that this 
native taint that is upon humanity is not a mere 
venial defect, of no serious account in the eye of the 
divine law, but a thing so evil as to demand purga- 
tion by blood. It unfits for heaven just as much as 
actual sin. JSTo being upon whom it is could ever be 
saved, except by the mediation of Jesus. It is that 
" sin of the world" which requires the Lamb of God 
to take away. The Jewish mother's un cleanness 
could only be removed by a lamb, or a pair of doves, 
offered as a burnt-offering; and even then, it con- 
tinued for seven days — an entire period of time. 
And so this original inborn deformity and contami- 
nation of our nature, shall not be perfectly rooted 
out until the period of our appointed time has been 
completed — until our stay in this world has closed. 

"We pass now to the thirteenth chapter, in which 
we have something of a medical treatise, on the sub- 
ject of leprosy. It is the oldest description extant 
10* 



222 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

of any disease. But it is not introduced into this 
ritual for medical purposes. There were other dis- 
eases in the Eastern world more painful, more fatal, 
more contagious, and equally afflictive ; but nothing 
is said about them. This is specially singled out 
from all the ills of earth, and made the subject of 
particular regulations. You will observe that it was 
to be treated by the priest, not by the physician. It 
had peculiar disabilities connected with it. Its entire 
surroundings show that something more than ordi- 
nary attaches to it. It is dealt with in a way which 
cannot be accounted for in the nature of the disease 
itself. It is therefore to be viewed, like all the other 
provisions of this law, as a type. It is another para- 
ble of sin. It stands here as the illustration of the 
workings, developments, and effects of inborn de- 
pravity. 

Sin is a corrupting and disorganizing disease, as 
well as a brutal degradation and hereditary unclean- 
ness. It is a loathsome putrescence of the whole 
nature. It is a sickness of the whole head, and a 
faintness of the whole heart. Deliverance from it is 
called a cure and a healing, as well as a pardon. He 
who relieves us of it is called a Physician. It is a 
disturbance, corrosion, disorder, and cancerous fret- 
ting in all the composition of the man. And to sig- 
nify and picture all this, is the real object of this 
chapter, and of all the laws respecting leprosy. The 
Jews called this disease "the finger of God" — "the 
stroke." In it, and the regulations concerning it, 
God has pointed out the most vivid and impressive 
exhibition of the nature and consequences of sin that 
has ever come under the contemplation of mortals. 
Under this view, then, let us study and apply it. 






BIRTH-SIN AND ITS DEVELOPMENTS. 223 

Notice its beginnings. Leprosy was, for the most 
part, hereditary. After doing its work in the parent 
it was very apt to break out in the child. Sin began 
in Adam, and having wrought nine hundred years in 
him, he died ; but the taint of it was left in all who 
sprang from him. But leprosy was not always here- 
ditary. Hence the necessity of a special symbol on 
the subject of innate depravity, such as we have just 
considered in the preceding chapter. The germ of 
all human sin is derived from our connection with a 
fallen parentage. 

But leprosy, whether hereditary, or contracted by 
contagion or otherwise, began far within. Its seat is 
in the deepest interior of the body. It is often in 
the system as many as three or a dozen years before 
it shows itself. How exactly this describes sin ! 
ISTero and Caligula were once tender infants, appa- 
rently the very personifications of innocence. "Who 
that saw their sweet slumbers upon the bosoms of 
their mothers, would ever have suspected, that in 
those gentle forms were latent seeds which finally 
developed into bloody butchery, and tyranny, and 
vice, at which the world for ages has stood amazed ! 
Who that beheld Judas Iscariot in the duties of his 
evangelic mission among the citizens of Judea, would 
ever have suspected the treachery which lurked in 
his soul unknown even to himself! Who would 
have thought, that in the bold and daring Peter, 
when he volunteered to die for his master, there ex- 
isted the root of those oaths and lies which broke 
from his lips in the porch of the high-priest's palace ! 
And little do we know of those depths of deceit 
which we carry in ourselves, or to what enormities 
of crime we are liable any day to be driven. "Let 



224 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." 
The taint of leprosy is within, and nothing but 
watchfulness and grace can keep it from breaking 
out in all its corrosive and wasting power. 

The first visible signs of leprosy are often very 
minute, and inconsiderable, and not easily detected. 
A small pustule or rising of the flesh — a little bright 
red spot like that made by a puncture from a pin — 
a very trifling eruption, indentation, or scaliness of 
the skin — or some other very slight symptom, is usu- 
ally the first sign which, it gives of its presence. 
And from these small beginnings the whole living 
death of the leper is developed. How vivid the pic- 
ture of the fact, that the worst and darkest iniquities 
may grow out of the smallest beginnings ! A look 
of the eye, a desire of the heart, a thought of the 
imagination, a touch of the hand, a single word of 
compliance, is often the door of inlet to Satan and 
all hell's troops. All the guilt that ever stained the 
earth may be traced to a look — the admiring look of 
Eve upon the forbidden fruit. ]STo man can tell to 
what an issu e the smallest sins may lead. Take but 
a brick from your pavement, and you have opened 
the way for the loosening of them all. Bore but an 
auger hole through the breast of a dam, or the bank 
of a canal, and you have arranged for a breach that 
may extend to the foundations, and carry the work 
of years to ruin in a day. Start but a little stone 
upon the precipice of the mountain, and other and 
greater ones will follow it, until the hill smokes and 
the valley trembles with the thunder of rolling rocks. 
Touch but a spark to the fuse, and it will multiply 
itself, until the very earth rends before it. Open but 
one small artery in your arm, and you have done 



BIRTH-SIN AND ITS DEVELOPMENTS. 225 

enough to let in speedy death. Utter but one sinful 
word, and it may bring after it a train of conse- 
quences which will give your name to the court, and 
link your fame with infamy. Just start an ardent 
youth upon peccadilloes, and it is like starting a 
loose wagon on an inclined plane ; there is no calcu- 
lating where he will stop, or how awful is the ruin 
which awaits him. " Behold, how great a matter a 
little fire kind] eth!" 

Leprosy is also gradual in its development. It 
does not break out in its full violence at once. It 
works for a while unseen. Its first manifestations 
are so trifling, that one who did not understand it 
would consider it nothing at all. It is only by degrees, 
running through the course of years, that it trans- 
mutes its victim into a living embodiment of putrefac- 
tion and death. How exact the correspondence be- 
tween type and antitype ! No man is an outbreaking 
and confirmed villain at once. The devil did not 
become a devil in a day. Character, whether good 
or bad, is a growth. It will grow faster in some 
circumstances and in some persons than in others ; 
but there always is gradation and progress from the 
less to the greater. If we were to trace the histories 
of delinquency and crime through which our brazen 
sinners have reached their eminence in guilt, we 
should be surprised to find in what a small way they 
began — how very slight were their first divergencies 
from rectitude — how very timid and restrained were 
their first experiments in wrong. Sin wrought in 
them long before it showed itself at all, and its first 
manifestations were of comparatively small account. 
But, having started in the way of evil, one easy 
transgression made it easier for the next ; and so, by 

p 



226 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

an ever increasing momentum, never once checked 
by repentance, they came to be the impersonations 
of vileness. An affection apparently lawful, excited 
by an unintentional curiosity, by little and little 
turns the mind upon some object of sensual desire; 
and this is the beginning of voluptuousness. Inquie- 
tude follows. Vague wishes form in the soul. Base 
adventures and familiarities ensue. And before the 
man is aware of it, a restless and fatal passion takes 
domiuion of him, and he hurries on to the deepest 
infamy and the blackest hell. No man ever started 
out with the deliberate resolve, or even the remotest 
suspicion of becoming a drunkard. There is not a 
victim of rum in all our gaugs of debauchees who 
at first ever dreamed of becoming the degraded 
object he now is. A little cheery indulgence because 
it was the fashion, or contributed to convivial enjoy- 
ment, or a little tippling for medicinal purposes, or 
to quicken the wits and raise the spirits on special 
occasions, is what laid the foundation of his ruin. 
And from these small beginnings, harmless in them- 
selves, but serving to beget appetite and fixing into 
habit, there came that insatiable passion, which has 
made him a blear-eyed, foul-mouthed and disgusting 
wretch, a disgrace to his name, a pest to his neigh- 
borhood, a mill-stone on the neck of his family, and 
a blot upon the earth. 

People are shocked, and hold up their hands in 
horror, at great and scandalous crimes; but they 
forget that these are only the necessary and easy 
sequences of little indulgences and sins of which they 
take no account. They forget that the bright spot 
and the little livid pustule are just as much the signs 
of leprosy as all the languor and putrescence which 



BIRTH-SIN AND ITS DEVELOPMENTS. 227 

follow after. They need to be told, that these little 
scales and tumors are the things of which comes all 
the abominable corruption at which they show so 
much feeling of abhorrence. They need to be told, that 
there is a close interior brotherhood and cohesion 
between sins, and that he who takes one to his favor 
is at once beset with all the rest. David, looking 
where he should not have looked, was already far on 
the way to his adultery ; and out of that, by a sort 
of necessary consequence, proceeded his murder of 
Uriah. Pharaoh the king, easily becomes Pharaoh 
the tyrant ; and out of this, by natural consequence, 
proceeds one more step, and he is Pharaoh the defiant 
blasphemer. Judas becomes the money-lover, and 
thence by easy transition becomes his Lord's per- 
fidious betrayer. The Csesar who mingles in the 
strifes of petty warfare, will soon find no refuge left, 
but must also cross the Rubicon. The boy who dis- 
obeys his mother, is already far on his way to be the 
man who tramples his country's laws under his feet. 
The young man who loves the theatre, and the ball- 
room, and the conversations of the lewd and profane 
more than his books and his home, is already started 
with vigorous headway upon the track of prostitution, 
crime, and infamy. And the professed member of 
the Church who visits the beer-house and the gaming- 
table, and begins to feel religious duty irksome, is 
even now far down the rapids which make for the 
cataract of ruin. Any one sin, however small it may 
seem, is a seed and root for another. And by the 
same easy steps by which a man commits his first 
little sins, he may go on to the most gigantic iniqui- 
ties. Sin is progressive ; and if we give ourselves to 



228 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

it at all, there is no telling to what deeds of wicked- 
ness we may come. 

Again, leprosy is in itself an exceedingly loathsome 
and offensive disorder — a kind of perpetual small- 
pox, only more deeply seated, and attended with 
more inward corruption. Every vein in every limb 
of a developed leper, runs down with putrid blood. 
His head is heavy, sick, and painful. His whole 
countenance is sallow, death-like, and disgusting. 
His hair hangs dry, lank and sapless on his blistered 
brow. The very nails on his bony fingers are dis- 
colored and tainted. His gait is slow, tottering and 
feeble. He is an object of abhorrence to every eye. 
He is a living parable of death ! Nor is it otherwise 
with sin. It is a filthiness of the flesh and of the 
spirit — a tainted clog to all the currents of life — a 
degrading deformity and corruption of the whole 
man. A developed sinner is a being covered and 
pervaded with putrid uncleanness. As Isaiah de- 
scribes the case, "From the sole of the foot even 
unto the head, there is no soundness in it ; but 
wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores, they have 
not been closed, neither bound up, neither molified 
with ointment." Every vital impulse is enfeebled, 
every sinew of the soul shrunk and corrupted, every 
spiritual activity palsied. The soul itself has become 
a fountain bursting out with corruption. The eye is 
sickly and vacant, reflecting no more the light of 
smiling heaven. The heart pulsates only with offen- 
sive humors. The hue of death is upon the entire 
nature. There is a sort of life ; but it is clothed with 
all the uncleanness and putrescence of the grave. 
From such a soul God turns away his face, and cannot 



BIRTH-SIN AND ITS DEVELOPMENTS. 229 

allow himself to look upon it. Words cannot tell 
how offensive it is to his pure eyes. 

Some may think all this extravagance ; but I have 
not gone one hair's-breadth beyond the plain state- 
ments of God's own word. Sin is a foulness which 
cannot be told. All the cancers, and leprosies, and 
consumptions, and scrofulas, and horrible diseases, 
and ugly deaths, and graveyard putrefactions, in the 
world, are but the outward effects and shadows of 
sin — the visible manifestations of the moral corrup- 
tion that is in man. "What then must it be in its 
principle and interior essence ! Could the sinner but 
have his eyes opened to see, and feel, and know it, as 
it is known in heaven, he would abhor himself, and 
cry out in Bartimean earnestness, "Jesus, thou Son 
of David, have mercy on me !" 

Again, leprosy, under this law, carried with it a 
most melancholy condemnation. A Jewish leper was 
not only horribly diseased, but also fearfully cursed 
in consequence of his disease. He was pronounced 
unclean by the law and by the priest. That alone 
cut him off from all the holy services, and from free 
communication with the congregation of his brethren. 
But it is the intensest of all uncleanness that is upon 
him, and he is doomed to a special affliction. The 
law says, " The leper in whom the plague is, his 
clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall 
put a covering on his upper lip, and shall cry, Un- 
clean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague 
shall be in him he shall be denied ; he is unclean : he 
shall dwell alone ; without the camp shall his habita- 
tion be." Had he a home ? He must leave it. Had 
he friends ? He must be wholly separated from them. 
Had he wife and children ? they were henceforward 
20 



230 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

to think of him as dead. Had he hopes and pros- 
pects of distinction and greatness on earth ? all are 
suddenly and forever cut off. His joys all turn to 
mourning. His covering of honor is stripped off to 
give place to desolation. His lips are covered as shut 
to all friendly intercourse. He was like one cut off 
from the assembly of living men, lingering about the 
gates of death, and hanging about its door-posts, im- 
patient for entrance there. Nobody thought of him 
any more with any love or favor. He had to dwell 
alone. He might come up and at a distance view the 
camp, but he could not approach, and not one would 
ever come near to him. With all the horribleness 
of his disease, it excited no sympathy, and loaded 
him with additional woes, themselves almost unbear- 
able. Such is the type, and it is the same with the 
antitype. Every sinner is condemned as well as dis- 
eased ; and condemned for the very reason that he is 
diseased. There is a sentence of uncleanness and 
exclusion upon him. He has no fellowship with the 
saints, and no share in the holy services of God's 
people. He is as one dead to all sacred joy, and all 
spiritual good. He may distantly gaze upon happy 
Israel, and their peaceful tents ; but he cannot enter 
them, or partake of the blessings within. He is a 
spiritual outcast — a moral leper — unclean, and ready 
for the realms of everlasting banishment and death. 
And yet, the picture is not quite complete. It 
remains to be said, that there was no earthly cure 
for leprosy. The prophet of God, by his miraculous 
power, could remove it; but no human power or 
skill could. It was beyond the reach of physician 
or priest. And so is it with sin. It is a consumption 
which cannot be cured — a cancer which cannot be 






BIRTH-SIN AND ITS DEVELOPMENTS. 231 

extracted — a leprosy which, cannot be cleansed — 
except by the direct power of divine grace. All the 
waters of Damascus — all the balm in Gilead — all 
the penance and suffering in the world, cannot remove 
it. Once in the system, God must purge it out, or it 
will remain there to fester and rot into the soul for 
ever and for ever. And without this cleansing from 
God, all the corruptions and woes of the present, are 
but preludes and shadows of a decay that never 
ceases, and an exile which knows no end. 

Much has been said about the condition of the 
lost. Some tell us with great assurance that there 
is no future hell — no lake of fire — no outpoured 
wrath of God on the souls of men in another life. 
Be it so. The text opens up a picture on this subject 
more awful than that of an ocean of flame, or any 
tempest of fire. It is the simple incurableness of 
the finally impenitent. They are corrupt and sick ; 
and they shall continue corrupt and sick. Their 
souls are just so many fountains gushing out streams 
of corrosive and disgusting corruption, which shall 
never be stayed or dried up. They are without 
heavenly communion, and they shall never have 
heavenly communion. They are without friends and 
tender sympathy, and they shall continue without 
them. They are as good as dead, unclean, con- 
demned, cut off from the camp of God, and without 
hope of being ever any better. They are gloomy 
and putrid wanderers about the regions of death ; 
and they shall wander there for ever. They are 
miserable lepers on their way to the lazar-house of 
eternal decay. 

Yes, and I have some of these very infected people 



232 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

listening to me to-day. Though much stupefied to 
sacred things, they have caught up the words that I 
have been uttering. They are sitting with their 
friends in the pews; but spiritually they are as 
unclean and disordered outcasts, lingering around 
the outskirts of the camp, and now and then casting 
in a sad glance. I have a word for them. Ho, ye 
leprous ones ! The great prophet and priest of God 
is passing through your country. He is healing the 
sick, cleansing the lepers, and binding up the broken- 
hearted. The tread of his footsteps is near you now. 
Come out from your lonely haunts, and ask that his 
healing hand be laid upon you. He is not afraid of 
your uncleanness. His invitation is to all, " Come." 
He sees you sadly looking in through gates which 
you feel you dare not enter. He has come down 
through this land, just to save and heal such afflicted 
ones as you. And he can do it. His simple touch 
is healing. His mere look is life. But call to him, 
and he will hear you. Only bring your case before 
him, and he will undertake it at once. Now is your 
time. This is the period of your gracious visitation. 
Look to Jesus now while he is at hand, and he will 
relieve you. Call upon him while he is near, and 
he will save you. Delay not in unbelief, for his stay 
is limited. Your time is short. Your opportunities 
will soon pass away. The possibility of cure will 
soon be for ever gone. The shades of evening are 
gathering around us. The day is rapidly fading 
away. The night of death is near. Time is grow- 
ing short. To-morrow may begin eternity. "We 
know not how soon the final words may drop from 
heaven — "It is done!" Haste you then to Jesus. 



BIRTH-SIN AND ITS DEVELOPMENTS. 233 

Fall down upon your knees before him. Let the 
deep fountains of your spirit be poured out in this 
one prayer : "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me 
clean I" And where that prayer exists in real soul- 
earnest, there is also the effective response, " I will ; 

BE THOU CLEAN." 

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift ! 



20 




THIRTEENTH LECTURE. 

THE LEPROSY OF GARMENTS. 

LEV. CHAP. XIII. 

We have not yet quite done with the thirteenth 
chapter of this remarkable book. "We have con- 
sidered leprosy as respects persons; but it also 
attached to garments, and even to houses. 

What relates to clothes-leprosy, is contained in the 
latter part of the thirteenth chapter, beginning with 
the 47th verse. 

Now, I do not suppose that this leprosy of gar- 
ments and skins was just the same disease of that 
name which attacked the human system. It may 
have been ; and one may have sometimes taken it 
from the other; but we are not required to take this 
view. It is enough to understand it to be some 
affection of woven fabrics bearing a general resem- 
blance to a leprous affection of the living body. A 
cancer is an affection of a living body, and yet we 
sometimes hear of cancers in trees. Mot is a decom- 
position of dead substances, and yet we speak of the 
rot in living sheep. The affections are not the 
same, although they are known by the same name. 
They refer to subjects very diverse in their nature. 
It is by this sort of accommodation, I take it, that 
God here speaks of leprosy of garments. As the 
life and comeliness of the leper are fretted away by 
his disease, so clothes and skins are affected by 

(234) 



THE LEPROSY OF GARMENTS. 235 

dampness, mould, or the settling in them of animal- 
culse, fretting away their strength and substance. 

Michaelis, who very thoroughly investigated this 
whole subject, speaks of dead-wool, that is, the wool 
of sheep which have died by disease, as particularly 
liable to damage of this sort. : His explanation is, 
that it loses its points and breeds impurity ; and that 
when made into cloth and warmed by the natural 
heat of the wearer, it soon becomes bare and falls in 
holes, as if eaten by some invisible vermin. The 
unsoundness and unhealthiness of fabrics made of 
such materials were thought so serious by this learned 
investigator that he strongly urges the interference 
of legal enactments to prohibit the use of such wool 
in the manufacture of cloths. It is evidently to some 
such affections that God refers in these laws concern- 
ing the leprosy of garments ; not because they were 
so particularly noxious or dangerous, but for typical 
purposes. The proper vindication of all these cere- 
monial regulations is, their lively signification of 
moral and religious ideas. Apart from this, many 
of them appear trifling and inexplicable ; but this 
gives them weight and dignity which fully entitles 
them to the high place which they occupy in the 
book of revelation. 

"We have seen that leprosy in the living body 
represents sin as it lives and works in man. Leprosy 
in clothing must therefore refer to disorder and con- 
tagion around man. There is disease breeding in 
everything about us, as well as in us. Jude speaks 
of "the garment unspotted by the flesh." Christ com- 
mends a few names in Sardis because they had u not 
defiled their garments." The reference in these and 
like passages plainly is to the matter of external con- 



236 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

tact with the world, and to the liability of Christians 
to be tainted by their earthly surroundings. The 
phraseology, however, is borrowed from these ancient 
laws. It contemplates the associations of a man as 
his clothing. Morally speaking, the state of things 
in which we live, is our garment. It is that which 
is put upon us when we come into life, which we 
continually wear while in the world, and which we 
put off when we die. It includes all the circum- 
stances in which we are placed, the business in which 
we engage, the social systems under which we act, 
our comforts and associations in the world, and all 
the outward every-day occurrences which enter into 
and shape our external existence. 

You will notice that these laws do not prohibit, 
but rather enjoin, the use of clothing. Christianity 
is not an exemption of a man from the common 
duties and associations of life. It does not encou- 
rage that moral divesture of one's self which some 
religionists have so unnaturally practised, by retiring 
from society and its cares to live in solitudes and 
secluded retirement. Asceticism, monkery, nunnery, 
celibacy, withdrawal from the ordinary associations 
of life, has not the sanction of God. It is a sort of 
nakedness, which strips life of its comforts and its 
real design, and goes far to thwart the object for 
which we have been placed in this world. All natu- 
ral associations, and all honest pursuits and employ- 
ments, are for our moral good. All the cares, 
anxieties, toils and sorrows of this world, are designed 
to be steps and rounds by which we may ascend to 
higher excellence and moral greatness. He that cuts 
himself off from them, cuts himself off from God's 
natural sacraments of spiritual blessing. They are 



THE LEPROSY OF GARMENTS. 237 

our proper clothing. They warm us, and protect us, 
and beautify us, and may be made to us the means 
of everlasting praise and honor. They are not 
necessarily degrading. They are all meant to enno- 
ble us, to elevate us, to bless us. They all have a 
spiritual aim. And they are all regulated by a wise 
and beneficent hand as means to our highest happi- 
ness. Toil is good ; and family relations are good ; 
and society in all its complex and varied affairs is 
good. We cannot sever ourselves from anything 
which it imposes without interference with God and 
detriment to ourselves. 

But whilst all these natural surroundings are good, 
they are liable to disease, and may become the 
sources of infection and evil. They may become 
tainted, and so help to render us unclean. Society 
is as capable of corruption as the individual; and 
with this augmentation of mischief, that it reacts 
upon the individual, and may contaminate and de- 
prave him still more than he would otherwise be. 
The fact is, that our social factors have introduced a 
great deal of dead wool into the fabrics which men in 
this world are compelled to wear. The signs of 
leprosy and contaminating uncleanness maybe traced 
at many points. 

Take the subject of government. Civil rule is or- 
dained of God. It is meant for good. And when 
framed upon principles of righteousness, earth knows 
no higher blessing. It is a defence for the weak, a 
restraint upon outbreaking passion, a handmaid to 
social dignity, the bulwark of freedom, the grand 
regulator of the outward world. And yet, how lep- 
rous has government often become ! "What curses 
has it inflicted upon man ! How has humanity been 



238 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

debased and degraded by the diseases which have 
fretted their way into it ! Though meant to defend 
the feeble against the strong, to exalt right above 
might, it has been made, in every age, the prolific 
source of many of earth's worst wrongs and miseries. 
Its tyrannies have filled the world with wailing. Its 
powers, corroded by human passion, have weighed 
like a millstone on the neck of humanity ever since 
history began. The corruptions to which it has given 
birth are legion. So sore and evil a thing has it often 
been, that the names of emperor and king have be- 
come an abhorrence unto men. It has been breeding 
leprosy and plague for six thousand years. 

And not the least among its dreadful contamina- 
tions has been its deleterious effects upon the virtue 
of mankind. An arbitrary and tyrannical govern- 
ment cripples and stunts morality in its very germ, 
by divesting goodness of its proper reward, and 
making justice yield to the bribes of power and gain. 
It makes outward authority or sordid passion, instead 
of inward conviction and moral principle, the rule 
of conduct. It depresses the conscience, blunts the 
moral sense, and transmutes the masses into ma- 
chines, sycophants and rogues, and the few into 
incarnations of the demon lust for power. How is 
it in Italy, in Spain, in Mexico, in the Ottoman do- 
minions? Though occupying the garden-spots of 
earth, the lands are cursed with the basest of all 
populations by reason of the governments under 
which they have been reared. The garment has 
become leprous, and all who wear it are more or less 
defiled. Even in our own government, boastful and 
proud as we are of our political institutions, the cloth 
in many places is growing prematurely bare, weak 



THE LEPEOSY OF GARMENTS. 239 

and rotten ; and the taint of unholy influences is 
beginning to be felt upon the cause of righteousness 
and the moral purity of thousands. 

Take the domestic relations. God saw that it was 
not good for the man to be alone. Male and female 
hath he created us. He has set mankind in families. 
He has ordained the home, and made it the seat and 
centre of the mightiest influences that work in 
society. It is a blessed arrangement. As it is the 
oldest, it is the holiest, external sanctuary upon earth. 
It is the nursery of sentiment, the sacred enclosure 
of balmy affections, the primary school of every 
virtue. It is our innermost garment of fine linen, 
which, of all outward things, lies the closest upon, 
and unites most vitally with the springs of character. 
Its purity is the guarantee of a peaceful state and a 
happy world. It was made to be the temple of love, 
and hence of all that is right in feeling and just in 
principle. 

The dearest spot on earth to me, 
Is Home — sweet Home. 

It is a fountain flowing with good. It is the founda- 
tion on which the best blessings of society chiefly 
repose. There is no fathoming of its influences. 
There is no way of computing its silent mightiness. 
It is not too much to say, that those who rock the 
cradle rule the world. In the secresy of home, the 
pale maternal hand moulds the springs which fashion 
the ages. Earth's greatest powers, have ever taken 
their bent from the gentle tones of the mother's 
voice. And when all effects come to be assigned to 
their true causes, the nursery chair will after all 
appear the mightiest throne. 



240 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

It is exceedingly important, therefore, that the 
home should remain pure. Transmute the domestic 
ties into bonds of iniquity, and the race is to that 
extent bound down to death. Taint these potent 
surroundings, and it is just so much poison cast into 
the fountains of life. Yet, how often may we find 
the leprous plague fretting into the warp and woof 
of the domestic fabric, and forming a moral atmo- 
sphere about the plastic souls of infancy and child- 
hood, more awful than upas shades, and more deso- 
lating than Lybian siroccos ! I tremble when I think 
of the responsibility of parents. They tread on 
ground where every footfall echoes through eternity. 
And I mourn when I consider how often it is an 
echo of everlasting accusation. 

Take business. It is necessary to engage in it. 
God himself commands it. Virtue, and religion, 
and even earthly comfort, require it. But how liable 
to become corrupt, and a mere instrument of death. 
" The care of the world and the deceitfulness of 
riches" are notorious for choking the springing germs 
of spiritual good. The commercial world is a very 
trying world upon the health of honor and honesty. 
It has a climate which is very apt to prove injurious 
to justice and integrity. The code of moral princi- 
ples which mostly govern there, are usually set down 
at a heavy discount. I cannot speak from personal 
knowledge ; but it is easy to see how numerous and 
powerful are the temptations which beset a man in 
mercantile life. An old book, which some consider 
inspired of God, has this remarkable sentence : u As 
a nail sticketh fast between the joinings of stones, so doth 
sin stick close between buying and selling " Leprosy is 






THE LEPROSY OF GARMENTS. 241 

exceedingly prone to settle there with all its conta- 
minations. 

Take education and literature. "We must have 
schools and books. They are an indispensable part 
of the great machinery of human progress. But they 
are apt to become leprous, and to impart contagion. 
Learning is a blessed thing ; its tendency is to elevate 
and improve. But sometimes it becomes the instru- 
ment of demons, and the great plague of men. How 
is it with the hundred thousand infidel and impure 
books that are at work in society ? How is it with 
the two millions of volumes of novels and tales which 
are annually issued from the American press alone ? 
How is it with our systems of collegiate instruction, 
where the student is directed to feed his pride of 
learning by joining with the drunken poets of the 
olden time in their celebrations of the sensualities 
of the gods ? How is it where the power of superior 
knowledge is not kept in balance by virtuous princi- 
ples and a benevolent heart ? How is it with some 
of our most elaborate systems of philosophy, which, 
in their hidden falsehood, are bending thousands 
from the truth ? Oh, what a power of mischief has 
gone out upon the world from schools and books ! 
How has genius descended from the altars of Hea- 
ven, to light her torch at the flames below ! Dead 
wool is in much of the cloth she wears. 

Take even the Church — the very pillar and ground 
of the truth — the ark of salvation itself. By it re- 
demption is conveyed to men ; and outside of it man 
has no Savior and no hope. And yet it is one of 
those garments around us which is liable to leprous 
taint. Instead of serving as a house of prayer, it has 
sometimes been a mere den of thieves. Instead of a 
21 Q 



242 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 






nursery of faith, hope, and charity, it has often been 
a nest for pestilential superstition, narrow self-right- 
eousness, and intolerant bigotry. Though meant to 
be a school of preparation for heaven, men have 
often made it a feeder to hell. 

But I need not enter further into specifications of 
this sort. You can see plainly that nothing around 
us in this world is so holy or so good, but that it 
may be perverted to base uses, and rendered the in- 
strument of contamination and exclusion from the 
camp of God's saints. Civil, domestic, economical, 
educational, and even religious associations, have at 
times exerted amazing power in the work of human 
degradation. Though intended and capacitated to 
be engines of good, they have often tended to deve- 
lop, mature, and confirm depravity, in all the walks 
of life. "We are clothed on all sides with what is 
liable to disease and contaminating disorder. It is 
in the country and in the city — at home and abroad. 
It is in our schools and colleges ; in the stores of our 
merchants ; in the shops of our artisans ; on the 
farms of our agriculturalists ; and even on the ships 
that float in the silent sea. And whilst we continue 
upon the earth, not one of us shall ever be able to 
escape liability to become leprous from the social in- 
fluences which hang upon and beset us continually. 

Having thus looked at the disorder, let us now 
direct our attention to the prescriptions concern- 
ing it. 

1. The first thing I notice here, is, that God set 
every Israelite on the look out for it. This must ne- 
cessarily have been the direct effect of the announce- 
ment of these laws. Every article of clothing was 
at once thrown under suspicion. "Whether made of 






THE LEPROSY OF GARMENTS. 243 

hairs or skins of animals, or of the fibres of vegeta- 
bles ; whether woollen, or linen ; whether firs, or 
naked skins, or skins softened into leather; every 
sort of cloth or manufacture, intended for purposes 
of clothing, was declared liable at any time to be 
seized with the plague, and to become unclean and 
contaminating. Every serious Hebrew would there- 
fore be impelled to keep the strictest watch for any 
symptoms of disorder, and to look with great suspi- 
cion upon whatever bore the least resemblance to it. 
!N"ow there is a kind of suspiciousness — a quality 
or state of mind, keeping back from confidence — 
which I would not for anything encourage. There is 
an affection arising from a bad conscience or a bad 
heart — a feeling closely akin to ugly jealousy, which 
mistrusts everything and everybody. It is just the 
contrary of that charity which " believeth all things, 
hopeth all things." It springs from no generous im- 
pulse. It is not based upon any dignified admiration 
for virtue. It proceeds upon no just zeal for the 
glory of G-od, or the good of man. It is a sort of 
surly selfishness and misanthropy, which is base in 
itself, and always mischievous in its effects. And 
the farther any one can keep himself from it the 
better for his own comfort, and for the good of those 
around him. But there is a suspiciousness which is 
virtuous and good. It mingles with the deepest piety 
and goes along with the greatest usefulness. But it 
is a suspicion of self, rather than a suspicion of 
others. It is a jealousy for one's own purity — a holy 
fear of doing wrong or of being led into evil. It 
springs from the very heart of charity, and contem- 
plates nothing but good. It is a diligent watchful- 



244 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

ness over self — a careful guarding against the con- 
taminations of evil. It is a suspiciousness based upon 
the clear evidence that everything is liable to corrup- 
tion, and that there is continual danger of falling 
into condemnation. It is a sacred dread of sin — the 
desire of a pure heart to " keep unspotted from the 
world." It sets a man upon the look out for dangers 
in all his earthly surroundings. It does not lead him 
to repudiate government, but to be on his guard that 
he may not be betrayed by it into disloyalty to his 
God. It does not prompt him to abjure domestic 
ties and cares, but to watch them lest they should 
wean his affections from heaven. It does not render 
business mean in his eyes, but causes him to be cau- 
tious lest it should crowd out a proper care for his 
soul. It begets in him no disregard for learning, 
but impels him above all things towards that which 
maketh wise unto salvation. It does not lessen his 
affection for the Church, but moves him to watch his 
heart against exclusiveness and bigotry. It does not 
in the least alienate him from the proper associations 
and pursuits of life, but encourages him to use this 
world, yet with jealous concern that he may not 
abuse it. 

It is easy to see how essential all this is to moral 
purity in our relation to earthly surroundings. Let 
him that heareth, therefore, be wise, and learn to 
keep his garments. 

2. A second particular in this law, to which I will 
call your attention, is, that whenever any symptoms 
appeared which might perhaps be leprous, the case 
was always to be immediately submitted to the judg- 
ment of the priest. The record says, "It shall be 






THE LEPROSY OF GARMENTS. 245 

showed unto the priest; and the priest shall look 
upon the plague;" that is, with a view to decide 
whether it is leprosy or not, and to give his direc- 
tions concerning it. The priest typified Christ ; and 
his office, the office of Christ. And a great Chris- 
tian lesson here comes to our view. 

Human judgment is weak. The wisest of men has 
said, "He that trusteth to his own heart is a fool." 
We need light from heaven. Conscience itself is not 
unerring except it be illuminated by revealed truth. 
A man may sincerely think he is in the right, when 
he is in most dangerous error. He may suppose 
himself pursuing a virtuous course, when he is be- 
coming more and more contaminated every hour. 
The way of common justice he may easily under- 
stand. Reason decides readily against flagrant breaches 
of morality. But no mere human penetration can 
find out all the secret lurkings of sin. Jesus is the 
only reliable arbiter. There are many instances in 
which nothing can guide us safely but his own de- 
cisive word. And this law pointed forward to the 
fact, that Christ is our teacher and judge — that he is 
to be our authoritative instructor — and that by his 
decision we are to know what is not pure. " I am 
the light of the world," says he ; " if I had not come 
and spoken unto them, they had not had sin ; but 
now they have no cloak for their sin." His word is 
the great "discerner." "This is my beloved Son," 
saith the Almighty; " hear ye him." True, Jesus is 
now in heaven, and we cannot hear his personal 
voice. But his word remains with us. We have 
only to come to his holy oracles, and we may know 
the truth. 
21* 



246 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

" The Law of the Lord is perfect. 
The testimony of the Lord is sure. 
The statutes of the Lord are right. 
The commandment of the Lord is pure. 
The fear of the Lord is clean. 
The judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether." 

Heathen philosophy is a foggy marsh, through which 
the soul never can find its way to saving truth. 
Tradition is a wilderness of conflicting records, con- 
founding the inquirer at every step. But the word 
of the Lord is pure sunshine from the open heavens, 
making the way of life so clear, that a wayfaring 
man, though a fool, need not err therein. And if at 
any time we have occasion to suspect disease and 
danger to our souls, our duty is to come at once to 
consult these oracles of Jesus, and have the matter 
settled by his own infallible authority. 

3. A third particular in these laws relates to the 
treatment which a garment declared to be leprous 
was to receive. This varied somewhat with the 
nature of the symptoms. If the affection was active 
and rapid in its progress, the article was at once to 
be burned, "whether warp or woof, in woollen or in 
linen, or anything of skin." It mattered not how 
valuable the article was, or how great the inconveni- 
ence of its loss, it was to be destroyed by fire. We 
are bound, as Christians, at once to cut loose for ever 
from everything infected. Though our renunciation 
of sin should be to us like cutting off the right hand, 
or plucking out the right eye, or giving ourselves to 
complete nakedness, we must give it over to the 
burning. It is a grand mistake for any one to sup- 
pose that sin is in any way essential to him. People 
plead for leniency in our judgment of the tricks of 






THE LEPROSY OF GARMENTS. 247 

trade, the corruptions of politics, and the question- 
able customs of society. They want to know how 
they are to get along without them. They tell us 
that these are common things, and have become 
necessary to success, etiquette, and respectability, 
and must be yielded to. But what if they are? 
What if a man cannot prosper in business without 
equivocation and deceit ? "What if a man cannot get 
into office but by meanness ? What if we cannot 
stand fair with the world without introducing into 
our homes practices at which conscience rebels. That 
does not alter right and duty. If the High-priest has 
said it is leprous, it is our business to burn the last 
robe we have. Better live beggars all our days — 
better be accounted the very offscourings of the earth 

— better die in garrets, and be buried in potter's 
field, and carried with Lazarus into Abraham's bosom 

— than to flourish a few years in sin, and then go 
down with Dives to unquenchable flames. If we 
cannot drink of Esek and Sitnah without strife : we 
are to relinquish them forever. If we cannot keep 
out of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace without bowing 
down to his image on the plains of Dura, we must 
promptly bid farewell to earth, and welcome the 
hottest, whitest flames. If we cannot enjoy Egypt's 
honors without being tainted with Egypt's idolatry, 
we must abdicate for ever, and choose rather to suffer 
affliction with the people of God, than enjoy the 
pleasures of sin for a season. Though it cost us the 
fiercest martyrdom, we must not deny our Lord. 
" For what shall it profit a man, though he shall gain 
the whole world, and lose his own soul?" 

If the affection, however, was not active and fret- 
ting, remedial measures were to be adopted, if pos- 



248 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 






sible, to cleanse and save the garment. "If the 
priest shall look, and the plague (after seven days) be 
not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in 
the woof, or in anything of skin; then the priest 
shall command that they wash the thing wherein the 
plague is/' The natural remedy for defilement was 
to be applied. And here comes in the whole subject 
of reform. This is the natural remedy for all man- 
ageable social disorders. I say all manageable ones ; 
for as some garments were so badly affected as to be 
doomed at once to burning, so there are some infec- 
tions in the surroundings of man in this world which 
never can be healed. They are beyond remedy, and 
we must make up our minds to abandon them to 
their fate, and to have no connection any more with 
them. Take, for instance, some of our popular 
amusements. That they are leprous none will deny. 
What hope is there of reforming them ? Theirs is 
" a fret inward," and there is no help for them. E"o 
washing can get them clean. And the only alterna- 
tive for Christians is, to separate themselves from 
them entirely. They do not form a subject for their 
endeavors at reform. They are doomed to come to 
an end. 

Take that church apostasy known in Scripture as 
" The Man of Sin." What use is there to try to re- 
form such an establishment as that? "Eo passible 
process could separate between it and the leprous 
plague that is in it. God himself has abandoned all 
hope of its recovery. Strong delusion is there, be- 
cause there is no love of the truth ; and that delusion 
is sent of God to seal its damnation. Here and there 
a sound thread may be pulled out and saved ; but 






THE LEPROSY OF GARMENTS. 249 

the garment is profoundly leprous. The great High- 
priest has said it shall be burned with fire. 

And the same is true of many governments, espe- 
cially those now occupying the territory of the old 
Roman Empire. They are leprous, to the deepest 
interior, It is useless to think of reforming them. 
They are past hope. They cannot be reclaimed. 
Prophecy sustains this declaration concerning them. 
God hath said they are unclean. As Christians we 
must surrender them to their doom. They shall be 
utterly consumed. 

These, and such like infected articles, are past 
cleansing. But there are others in which the taint is 
less malignant and less defiling. The leprosy in them 
is not so deep but that careful washing may perhaps 
remove it. These are the legitimate subjects of 
Christian reform. There are many abuses in society 
which may be corrected. There are many sources 
of mischief which may be dried up. There are many 
affections of Church and State which may be cleansed 
off. To this end, therefore, are our energies to be 
directed. Every Christian is a reformer — not an 
empty vociferous demagogue, crying down every- 
thing, with nothing to put in the place — not a 
Jacobin revolutionist, who would unhinge society, 
and overturn, overturn, without restraint, limit, com- 
punction, or fear of God or man — but a genuine 
reformer, whose heart and hand and influence are 
fully set against what is wrong and corrupting ; who 
would not destroy society, but build it up and estab- 
lish it upon those strong foundations which God 
himself has laid for it ; and who, in place of putting 
the child against the parent, the subject against the 
ruler, and man against his God, bends all his influ- 



250 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

ence to have each one happy in his place by a true 
harmony with heaven. 

But there is one very important peculiarity to he 
observed in all Christian reforms. The washing of 
the infected garment was to be done by direction of 
the priest. "The priest shall command that they wash 
the thing wherein the plague is." Christ's word is to 
be our guide for getting rid of social disorders, as 
well as for the detection of them. He is our Priest, 
and we must conduct our cleansing efforts upon the 
basis of his Gospel. The world is full of pretended 
reformers. Society is sick, aud the doctors swarm 
around the patient, and every one has a prescription 
to offer. The conflict of opinion abroad over the 
earth, is like the winds that strove together upon the 
dark bosom of original chaos. The human mind is 
becoming completely bewildered and confounded. 
God is cutting the world loose from its old and false 
connections, and everywhere we hear the shrieks and 
behold the struggles which result therefrom. There 
is accordingly a casting about on all sides, such as 
never has been witnessed in the earth before. And 
the great danger is of basing our reformative efforts 
upon vague notions of philosophy, mistaken im- 
pulses, or wild schemes of human perfectibility, 
which can only delude and disappoint. Our eyes 
must therefore be ever turned to our Priest, who 
understands the whole case, and move only as his 
word directs. The Gospel is the chart by which to 
direct our way on the heaving ocean. Christ has 
been ordained to be the centre of the world. Around 
him everything must be made to revolve. Prom him 
all goodness radiates. And without coming under 
the laws of pulsation and attraction, which proceed 



THE LEPROSY OF GARMENTS. 251 

from his great heart, even the best meaning men 
shall become mere wandering stars, whirling head- 
long through eternal emptiness, to whom is reserved 
the blackness of darkness for ever. The Gospel alone 
is the great regenerator of the world. 

Finally, along with the washing of a leprous gar- 
ment, it was to be shut up seven days, after which 
the priest was to examine it again ; and if the bad 
symptoms had disappeared, it was to be washed 
again, and it was clean ; but if the symptoms had 
not disappeared, it was then to be finally torn or 
burned. A vivid picture, this, of God's plans with 
the social fabrics of this world. Some, in which the 
disorder was great, have already been quite de- 
stroyed. Others, in which the affection is less ma- 
lignant, are undergoing the efforts of purification. 
They are shut up now until time shall complete its 
period. The great High-priest and Judge shall then 
come forth to give them the last inspection. And 
as things then are, so shall their eternal portion be. 
The tyrannies and corruptions then found upon the 
earth shall be adjudged to immediate destruction. 
And every plant which the heavenly Father hath not 
planted shall be rooted out. 

May God give ns grace against that day ! 



FOURTEENTH LECTURE. 

THE LEPER CLEANSED. 

LEV. CHAP. XIV. 

I have stated the fact, that leprosy was not curable 
by human remedies. It did not always, however, 
continue for life. It was often sent as a special 
judgment, as in the cases of Miriam, Azariah, and 
Gehazi. The Jews generally looked upon it in this 
light. Its very name denotes a stroke of the Lord. 
This, of itself, rather implies that it may cease with 
the repentance and forgiveness of the smitten 
offender. Miriam was healed in the course of a 
week. And learned men tell us, that it sometimes 
runs its course in the system, and then dries up as of 
its own accord. At any rate, we know of many 
lepers being healed, both in the Savior's time and 
before, not by human skill, but by divine power and 
grace. 

It was the anticipation of the healing, of at least 
some persons leprously affected, that formed the 
basis of the provisions here laid down. They con- 
stitute "the law of the leper in the day of his 
cleansing;" and if there was no possibility of cure, 
there was no use of this law. 

You will observe, however, that these regulations 
were not for the cure of the leper, but for his cere- 
monial cleansing after the cure. The priest was first 

(252) 



THE LEPER CLEANSED. 253 

to examine "if the plague of leprosy had been healed 
in the leper;" and it was only in case he found the 
plague healed, that these laws were to go into effect. 
You recollect the case in the Gospel history, of " a 
man full of leprosy, who, seeing Jesus, fell on his 
face, and besought him, saying, " Lord, if thou wilt, 
thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his 
hand, and touched him, saying, I will : be thou clean. 
And immediately the leprosy departed from him." 
The man was cured. Everything of his disease was 
quite gone. But still he was not yet restored to his 
social and religious privileges as a Jew. It yet re- 
mained for him to comply with this "law of the 
leper." Hence the Savior said to him, " Go, and 
show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, 
according as Moses commanded." "We thus have 
the authority of Christ for it, that this law was for 
the ceremonial cleansing of lepers after they were 
cured, and not for their cure. The disease had first 
to be stayed, and then began this process of cleansing 
off all its lingering effects and disabilities. 

I therefore take the deepest intention of these rites 
to be, to illustrate the nature of sanctification. Jus- 
tification is also implied, but only as connected with 
sanctification. Of course there can be no sanctifica- 
tion without forgiveness and acquittal first. Con- 
demnation must be removed before there can be any 
advances in holiness. Hence, these cleansing cere- 
monies were to begin by the priest's inspection of 
the recovered leper, and the pronunciation of him 
healed of his disease. Let us look a little at these 
preliminaries, and we will be the better prepared to 
appreciate what was to follow. 

1. In the first place it is presupposed that the 
22 



254 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

leper's disease had been stayed. And this healing 
again points to some putting forth of divine power 
and grace quite different from anything here brought 
to view, and far anterior to the commencement of 
these services. The first motion of our salvation is 
from God. It begins while we are yet in the very 
depths of our defilement and guilt. " "While we 
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.'* The grounds 
of our justification are all provided for us in the 
mercy of God, without any sort of co-operation on 
our part. The first that we know of our spiritual 
estate, is the Gospel sounding in our ears, telling us 
that we have been dead in sin, and that God hath 
found a ransom by which, if we believe and act on 
his word, "there is now no more condemnation." 
Our healing is begun in Christ Jesus before we are 
conscious of it. The very first that we hear on the 
subject is, the glad tidings that our leprosy is stayed, 
and that all we have now to do is to go forward with 
what is prescribed for our cleansing. We need no 
longer sit brooding in despondency over our leprous 
condition. All that is as good as cured in Christ 
Jesus. A full and free forgiveness of all our sins 
is provided. And the only remaining requirement 
is, to "go show thyself to the priest, and offer for 
thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded." 

2. The leper, finding his leprosy stayed, was to go 
to the judge in the case, and claim exemption from 
the sentence that was upon him. And to render this 
the more easy for him, the priest had to "go forth 
out of the camp" to meet him. The very moment 
the sinner believes in the healing proclaimed to him 
in the Gospel, and sets himself to move for his 
cleansing, Christ meets him. The father runs to em- 



THE LEPER CLEANSED. 255 

brace the returning prodigal while yet a great way 
off. "We have only to say to him, " See, I have been 
a filthy leper. My whole nature has been corrupt 
and unclean. But here in this Gospel and its provi- 
sions is a complete cure. This pure white righteous- 
ness of my Savior and surety is enough to exempt 
me from being any longer excluded from the society 
of my friends. Examine it, and see whether the 
disease is not healed. In the power of this holy 
word I am no longer to be numbered with the out- 
cast and condemned. Deliver me then from this 
terrible exclusion." 

3. And when the healed leper thus presented him- 
self to the priest, there was no alternative left. He 
had to be pronounced cured. And so Christ hath 
bound himself to acquit and absolve every sinner 
who thus comes to him in the strength of the Gospel 
message. There is no further hindrance in the way. 
The man is justified. The sentence that was against 
him is exscinded and taken away. All that concerns 
our forgiveness or justification then lies in this, — Do 
we believe the Gospel message ? Do we take it to 
be true that Christ has wrought out for us a sufficient 
righteousness ? Do we rest upon his sacrifice as our 
propitiation ? Do we receive to our hearts and re- 
pose upon the announcement of pardon through his 
mediation ? If we do, we are forgiven. Our sins 
are remembered against us no more. We are ab- 
solved. We are justified. The process of our sanc- 
tification has begun. 

But, the mere absolution of the priest did not fully 
restore the leper. Though his disease was stayed, 
there was a taint of it remaining to be purged off 
before he could join the camp or the holy services. 



256 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 






And so our whole salvation must miscarry, if it does 
not also take in an active holiness, purifying our 
hearts and lives, and transforming us into the image 
of our Redeemer. How this sanctification is effected 
is what we are now to consider. 

I. To cleanse the recovered leper, the first thing 
to be done was the procurement of two clean birds, 
the one of which was to be slain, and the other to be 
dipped in its fellow's blood and set at liberty. These 
two doves, the gentlest of all God's creatures, at 
once carry our thoughts back to Christ, and his won- 
derful history. Like them he was meek and pure — ■ 
the "gentle Jesus." Like them he was taken from 
his peaceful home, and made captive to the law. 
The fate of the one shows us how he was mangled 
for human guilt, crushed to death for the sins of 
others, and brought down to the depths of the earth. 
The other, coming up out of the earthen vessel, out 
of the blood of its fellow, shows us how Jesus rose 
again from the rocky sepulchre, and ascended up 
out of the hand of his captor on strong and joyous 
pinions far into the high abodes of heaven, scatter- 
ing as he went the gracious drops of cleansing and 
salvation. 

The introduction of these birds, in this connection, 
presents a great theological fact. As they typify 
Christ, they show, that our sanctification, as well as 
our justification, proceeds from his cross and resur- 
rection. True, it is the Spirit that sanctifies, through 
the truth ; but had not Christ died and risen again, 
" the truth" would have been disrobed of its power, 
and the Holy Ghost would not have come. His 
teachings are indeed sublime and perfect ; but they 
would be dead as man's philosophies, without their 



THE LEPER CLEANSED. 257 

proper seal of dying love, and the living energies 
which flow through them from their Author's triumph 
over death, and his gifts of power shed from the hea- 
vens whither he ascended. 

"When Themistocles was a young man, and the 
battle scenes of Marathon were stirring the blood 
of heroes, for a time he could not rest day nor night. 
All his common affections seemed to be suddenly 
stricken dead. Being asked as to the cause, he said, 
" The trophies of Miltiades will not suffer me to sleep." 
And so there are certain stirring, melting, trans- 
forming potencies, proceeding from G-ethsemane and 
Calvary and Olivet, which 

seize upon the mind, — arrest, and search, 

And shake it, — bend the tall soul as by wind, — 
Rush over it like rivers over reeds, 
Which quiver in the current, — turn us cold, 
And pale, and voiceless, — 

tearing the sinner from his guilty peace, and thrilling 
him with thoughts, and fears, and aspirations, which 
reach throughout eternity. I will not now attempt 
to explain how it is ; but there is a mightiness in the 
blood-doctrine of the cross, which works upon the 
human heart, and changes and renews it, as nothing 
else has ever done, or can do. Let man once fairly 
see and believe it, and sin that moment loses its 
supremacy in his soul, and withers and fades. Can I 
look on a Savior's love, unaided and alone interposing 
for my rescue, and see my condemnation dying in his 
death, and the guilt of my past offences buried in his 
grave, and the decree of perfect absolution issuing 
from his resurrection, and the invitations to immor- 
tality opened to me in his ascension, and not feel a 
22* r 



258 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

grateful impulse of compliance in my soul which 
snaps the cords of sin asunder, and covers hase pas- 
sion with infinite contempt ? Can I behold so dear- 
bought and great a salvation brought to my very 
door and offered freely to my acceptance, and feel no 
check of selfishness that I may live for ever ? Can 
I believe that all the dreadful weight of my guilt was 
laid upon that meek Lamb, and expiated in his 
blood, entitling me to step up and be a companion 
of angels in the habitation of God, and not feel in- 
wardly impelled to deny my heart its short-lived sin- 
ful pleasures that I may have eternal blessedness? 
Ho, child of folly ! Only 

Cast up thy tearful eyes 

To where thy Lord and Love was crucified ; 

So shall the world, and all its vanities, 

Appear like dross ; — ambition, lust, and pride, 

Shall far, far off their baleful powers remove, 

And in the pure, unspotted mind 

Nothing remain 

But adoration, ecstacy, and love. 

Let men reason as they please, it is after all the Sa- 
vior's blood and resurrection which sanctifies. 

Talk they of morals ? thou bleeding Lamb ! 
The best morality is love to Thee. 

II. The next thing to be done for the cleansing of 
the recovered leper, was the arrangement and use of 
means to apply the cleansing blood. Three different 
articles were to be combined into one instrument for 
this purpose — a stem of cedar wood, a bunch of 
scarlet wool, and a parcel of twigs of hyssop. I will 
not undertake to say what was the detail of typical 
signification in these several articles. The cedar 



THE LEPER CLEANSED. 259 

wood here spoken of is remarkable for its durability, 
fragrance, and healthful-looking redness of heart. 
The scarlet color of the wool, which was much es- 
teemed by the orientals, may have some allusion to 
the blood of the leper returning again to its natural 
color, and signify healthiness. Hyssop is a small 
bushy plant, aromatic, and warming in its medicinal 
properties. The stick of cedar formed a sort of 
handle or stem on which the wool and hyssop were 
fastened, so as to make a convenient instrument for 
taking of the blood to sprinkle it upon the body of 
him who was to be cleansed. The whole thing taken 
together presents us with the fact, that our sanctifi- 
cation by the blood of the crucified and risen Savior 
is not direct, but through the use of instrumentali- 
ties or means. There is always something coming 
between the purifying blood and ourselves, by which 
the efficacy of that blood is applied to our souls. 
Christ has appointed certain instruments and agencies 
to convey to us the purifying elements. First of all 
is the cedar stem of his word, durable, fragrant, and 
instinct with celestial power and life, speaking through 
all the visible creation, but much more distinctly and 
powerfully in the written Scriptures. Along with 
this, and fastened to it, is the scarlet wool of the holy 
sacraments, absorbing, as it were, the whole substance 
of Christ crucified, and performing an important 
part in the impartation of the same to our souls. 
And along with this scarlet wool, and bound to the 
same stem, are the many little aromatic stems of 
prayer, with the sanctifying blood running out and 
hanging in drops on every point, ready to flow upon 
and cleanse the humble worshipper. Whether any 
other means are included in these symbols, I do not 



260 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

know ; but these certainly are ; and by these, above 
everything else, is the purifying blood of Jesus 
brought in contact with our hearts, and made effectual 
to our purification. These are the glorious channels 
of saving health to unclean souls. Let a man exer- 
cise himself well in the Divine word ; let him make 
his heart familiar with what is there given for his 
learning ; let him know and believe the truth as it is 
in Jesus, and it will be in him a fountain of purity 
springing up into everlasting life. Let him attend 
devoutly to the appointed sacraments, and he will 
find that word mellowing into still greater adaptation 
to his wants, and drawing to him in more vivid close- 
ness and power. And let him be diligent and earnest 
in his prayers, and be found at his wonted times 
bowed at the feet of his great High-priest in heaven ; 
and there will be all necessary connection and com- 
munion with that blood which cleanseth from all sin. 
To these comes the mystic Spirit of God, viewless as 
the wind, silent as the grave, but mighty as omnipo- 
tence, breathing through all, working in all, making 
all alive with celestial vigor, reviving, cheering, 
sanctifying, blessing, and bringing back the lost to 
life, and home, and heaven. How simple, and yet 
how beautiful ! How easy, and yet how effective ! 
Conceive, if you can, of a polar winter — cold that 
locks up the sea — darkness that is perpetual — on 
everything the white shroud and silence of death. 
It is the picture of the moral estate of him who has 
never been reached by these sanctifying appliances. 
Conceive, now, of the breaking up of that forbidding 
scene. The snows melt on their hills ; the ice breaks 
from the seas; the sun forgets to set; the buiied 
earth rises out of its cold shroud ; the sea ebbs and 



THE LEPEK CLEANSED. 261 

flows in joyous freedom ; life springs up in the valleys ; 
the wild winds change their savage roar for balmy 
melody ; and the harsh north lays by its fierceness 
and lies down as a gentle lamb in the continuous 
sunshine. It is the picture of the sinner passed from 
death to life. And what has done it ? Nothing but 
one aspect of that law which causes this book to rest 
upon my hand — the turning of a little wheel in the 
clock-work of material things. The north turned 
away from its sovereign in the heavens ; and there 
was cold, darkness, and death. It turned back 
again ; and there was genial warmth, and light, and 
life, and blessedness. And so, only let the sinner 
reverse his course, retrace his steps, and turn him- 
self Godward in these simple means ; and a hallow- 
ing peace and light shall arise upon him, at which 
his inmost soul will sing, and angels themselves 
rejoice. 

III. A third requirement for the leper's cleansing 
was, that he should " wash his clothes, and shave off 
all his hair, and wash himself in water." This was 
his own work. It was to be done by the leper him- 
self. Its spiritual significance is easily understood. 
It refers to the sinner's repentance and reformation. 
He must cleanse himself from all his old and base 
surroundings. He must separate between himself and 
everything suspicious. Though the leper was cured, 
his disease might still adhere to his clothes ; he had 
therefore to wash them. Though clean of his leprosy 
in every other part, it might still have some hidden 
symptoms under the hair ; he had therefore to shave 
it all off, even his very eyebrows. There was to be a 
perfect separation made between himself and the un- 
cleanness which was formerly upon him. To be truly 



262 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

sanctified, we must cut ourselves off from all unholy 
associations and suspicious honors. "We must hreak 
up all our old sinful habits, and relinquish all false 
ways. As the prophet expresses it, we must " cease 
to do evil, and learn to do well." He that sinned, 
must sin no more. There must be a complete reform. 
A man from another church remarked to me some 
time ago, that he thought there was one great defi- 
ciency in many of the pulpits of modern times ; that 
the preachers make too much of faith, and not enough 
of repentance ; that our professed Christians are too 
forward to trust in Christ without a sufficient sur- 
render of themselves to obey Christ; and that the 
way to heaven is often held forth as so simple and 
easy, that people are not impressed as they should 
be with the necessity of a change in the whole 
manner of life. I will not say how far he was correct. 
But this I will say, If our religion is not powerful 
enough to work a complete revolution in our lives, 
leading us to obey and follow Christ as well as to 
expect salvation through him, it will avail us nothing 
before God. 

Mistaken souls, that dream of heaven, 

And make their empty boast 
Of inward joys and sins forgiven, 

While they are slaves to lust! 

Vain are our fancies, airy flights, 

If faith be cold and dead ; 
None but a living power unites 

To Christ, the living Head. 

A faith that changes all the heart ; 

A faith that works by love; 
That bids all sinful joys depart. 

And lifts the thoughts above. 






THE LEPER CLEANSED. 263 

Faith must obey our Father's will, 

As well as trust his grace ; 
A pardoning God is jealous still 

For his own holiness. 

" ISFot every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter 
into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the 
will of the Father which is in heaven." " Whoso 
looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth 
therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of 
the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." 
Religion is not mere sentiment. 

; Tis not to cry, God mercy, or to sit 
And droop, or to confess that thou hast failed 
'Tis to bewail the sins thou didst commit, 
And not commit those sins thou hast bewailed. 
He that bewails, and not forsakes them too, 
Confesses rather what he means to do. 

The command is, "Wash you, make you clean; 'put 
away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes." 
" Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." 
IV. But there is another particular entering into 
this ritual cleansing. After everything else had been 
done, sacrifices were to be offered. I need not enter 
into the details of this part of the service, as they 
were very fully before us in the first chapters. The 
general signification of them, in this connection, is, 
that our sanctification, from beginning to end, de- 
pends upon "the blood of the Lamb." We must 
wash, and repent, and reform ; but it avails nought 
without blood. Water, the purest that ever dropped 
from mossy rock, or gushed from the mountain 
spring, is not able to cleanse a man for heaven. 
Tears of repentance, though pure as those which 
trickled down the Savior's cheeks, cannot wash out 



264 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

the stains of sin, except they be mingled with the 
blood that dripped from his wounds. And no moral 
improvements can entitle us to eternity's honors, if 
they are not connected with the suretyship and sacri- 
fice of Jesus. The source of all sanctification is in 
his death and resurrection. All the glories of eternal 
life, still refer us back to Calvary. Grace in Christ 
Jesus commenced the work, and grace in Christ 
Jesus must complete it. 

Grace all the work shall crown, 

Through everlasting days; 
It lays in heaven the topmost stone, 

And well deserves the praise. 

The only peculiarity which I notice here, is, that 
some of the blood and oil was to be touched to the 
cleansed leper, the same as in the consecration of the 
priests. The record says, " The priest shall take 
some of the blood of the trespass-offering, and put it 
upon the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and 
upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the 
great toe of his right foot ;" and the same with regard 
to the oil. This completed his cleansing, and joined 
him to the chosen people in all their privileges and 
obligations. It points to the very culmination and 
crown of Christian sanctity. The blood of the tres- 
pass offering stands for the blood of Christ, and the 
holy oil for the Holy Spirit. These are the two great 
consecrating elements of Christianity. With these 
our High-priest approaches us through the Gospel to 
complete our cleansing and ordain us to the dignities 
and duties of our spiritual calling. With this blood 
and chrism applied to us, we are clean, and set apart 
as " a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy 



THE LEPER CLEANSED. 265 

nation, a peculiar people," to " show forth the praises 
of him who hath called us out of darkness to his 
marvellous light." And this blood and unction are 
thus applied, when we have fully submitted ourselves 
to Jesus, and given up to be what he desires to 
make us. 

The grand peculiarity of a Christian, and that 
which sums up everything else respecting him, is, 
that he no longer looks upon himself as his own, 
but as bought with a price, and marked by redeem- 
ing blood, and gifts of anointing, to be the Lord's. 
His head and ears are consecrated. His hands and 
his feet are consecrated. His whole being is set 
apart to a holy calling, no longer to be given to 
selfishness or sin. In the entire bent and purpose 
of his mind, by force of the blood that was shed for 
him, and the Spirit that is poured upon him, he is 
brought clean out of the region and shadow of death, 
made a part of the congregation of saints, and 
divorced from all alliances foreign to the theocratic 
kingdom and the commonwealth of Israel. Expa- 
triated from the realms of darkness, he has become 
a child of light, whose citizenship is in heaven. He 
is joined to the camp of God, united to the general 
assembly — the Church of the first-born, made up to 
share its fate. His whole interest is embarked with 
the cause of righteousness. Like the trusting Moab- 
itess of the olden time, his vow is, " "Whither thou 
goest, I will go ; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge ; 
thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." 
Jesus has laid his hand upon him, and said — "Thou 
art mine ; therefore thou shalt observe to do what- 
soever I have commanded, and verily thou shall have 
thy reward." "Be it so," is the deep and firm re- 
23 



266 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

sponse of his soul ; " be it unto me according to thy 
word." It is enough. "With this all the hopes, and 
joys, and dignities of the saints are his. He is clean. 
Like the scape-dove in the text, once a captive and 
in danger of death, he now is free. His soul may 
spread its wings, and rise above the common world, 
and soar away to salvation's sunny hills, and make 
its nest in the everlasting mountains, "bearing about 
with it the dying of the Lord Jesus." And when 
we contemplate the portion of such a soul bounding 
away, like that liberated bird, to everlasting life, 
how fitting comes in the Psalmist's wish — u O that 1 
had wings like a dove ! for then would I fly away, and 
be at rest" 

V. There is one point more in these ceremonies to 
which I will call your attention. I refer to the time 
which they required. A leper could by no possibility 
get through with his cleansing under seven days. 
One day was enough to admit him into the camp ; 
but seven full days were requisite to admit him to 
his home. There was therefore a complete period 
of time necessary to the entireness of his cleansing. 
This arrangement was not accidental. It has its full 
typical significance. It refers to the fact, that no 
one is completely sanctified in the present life ; and 
that a complete period of time must ensue before we 
reach the rest to which our cleansing entitles us. 
Christians now are only in course of cleansing. Re- 
covery has commenced. Leprosy has been stayed. 
The priest has declared the disease conquered. Its 
offensive humors have all disappeared. We are ab- 
solved and justified. The blood of purification has 
been sprinkled upon us. "We have washed our clothes 
by repentance and reform. We have been admitted 



THE LEPER CLEANSED. 267 

to the camp. "We are numbered with the people of 
God. Our names are written in heaven. We have 
made great advances on what we were whilst rotting 
in our leprosy. We have attained unto very high 
honors. We have secured' very exalted privileges. 
But everything has not yet been done, and all our 
disabilities are not yet removed. Great services yet 
remain to take place when the seven days have 
elapsed. And until then we must patiently wait. 
The influences of sin still linger about the old tene- 
ment, and we must suffer the consequences of it until 
the term of this present dispensation ends. Then 
shall our High-priest come forth again, and " change 
our vile bodies, and fashion them like unto his own 
glorious body." The last lurking places of defile- 
ment shall then be cut off. The last act of the leper's 
cleansing was to shave off his hair. When that was 
done, he entered upon all the high services of the 
Tabernacle, and went to his home a saved man. 

Some look upon death as the end of man. They 
think that there is no more of him after he has been 
consigned to the tomb. A grain of seed dies, and 
shoots forth a new body and a new harvest; the 
caterpillar dies, and gives being to the butterfly from 
the elements of his decay ; the day dies, and breaks 
forth into a new dawn ; the year dies, and nature 
lies dead in her white winding sheet, and then bursts 
into fresh vigor from her wintry grave ; and yet, 
when man dies, they say it is an eternal sleep — a 
complete extinction ! It is not so. Death is our only 
proper birth. Then first we are to enter upon the 
true realities of life. Nature knows no such thing 
as an eternal sleep. Sleep always implies a future 
awakening. And if death is a sleep at all, it cannot 



268 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

be eternal. It is but the repose of the night that is 
soon to issue in eternal day. Death in itself has 
nothing pleasant in it. It was not an agreeable thing 
for the leper to have all his hair shaved off from his 
entire body. It was in itself a great humiliation and 
dishonor. -But in that he received the completion 
of his liberty. It is sad to see the cheek of a friend 
grow pale and sunken, and his smile give place to 
the signs of anguish, and his strong limbs become 
powerless, and the sick look creep over his flashing 
eye, and his tongue grow heavy in his mouth, and 
the work of death going on in his manly form, and 
his whole visible being turning to offensive corrup- 
tion. It makes us shudder and weep. It is a melan- 
choly humiliation of the glory of man. But in that 
very waste and decay he is being born to everlasting 
vigor. It is his birth to immortality. It is the last 
of his disabilities. From that sad scene he passes to 
his home. There is, after all, something bright and 
joyous connected with the gloom of death. It comes 
to break the chains of the prisoner; to bring the 
exile home ; to cleanse away the last remains of sin ; 
to lead the ransomed spirit to its rest; to house us 
with the loving and beloved in the bright mansions 
of the Father's house. 

Death is the crown of life. 
Were death denied, poor man would live in vain. 
Were death denied, to live would not be life. 

All hail, then, to the Gospel which sheds such light 
upon the mystery of death ! All hail to the hopes 
which bloom upon a Christian's grave ! These dark 
and gloomy doors lead to the land of bliss. These 
little hillocks, under which our babes and fathers 



THE LEPER CLEANSED. 269 

sleep, are but the mountain peaks of another and 
better world. The king of terrors is a messenger of 
peace. And connecting death with the resurrection 
which is to follow it, earth knows of no sublimer 
transition. 

Brethren, we must die. The seven days of life are 
fast passing away. Very soon we shall sleep our last 
sleep. It may sadden us and make us shudder to 
think of it. It requires grace to look calmly on the 
tomb. But, along with this is another thought — a 
thrilling thought — that some of these times we shall 
sleep, and when we open our eyes, we shall say — 
" "What pearly gates are these ? What jasper walls, 
what golden streets, what splendid palaces, are these? 
What immortal trees, what crystal streams, what 
amaranthine bowers, are these ? Lo ! the white-robed 
hosts that sing redemption's songs ! Lo ! the King 
in his beauty, with his everlasting thrones ! O ! the 
beatific vision ! What a blessed place ! Is not this 
heaven ? Can it be a dream ? Yerily, this is heaven ! 
Heaven — heaven — heaven! Halleluia forever! 

I AM AT HOME IN HEAVEN !" 



23 



FIFTEENTH LECTUKE. 



THE POOR — HOUSE LEPROSY— SECRET UNCLEANNESS. 

LEV. CHAP. XIV. XV. 

I have commented upon the fourteenth chapter as 
far as the twenty-first verse. At this point com- 
mence certain modifications of the law for the 
cleansing of lepers, to adapt it to the peculiar cir- 
cumstances of the poor. In all ordinary cases, the 
man to be cleansed was to present three lambs, and 
three tenth-deals of flour. But God here says, "If 
lie he poor, and cannot get so much, then he shall 
take one lamb for a trespass-offering to be waved, to 
make an atonement for him, and one tenth-deal of 
fine flour, and two turtle-doves or young pigeons, 
such as he is able to get." Similar exceptions were 
made in favor of the poor, in the first, second, and 
fifth chapters. 

The poor man is often overlooked. There is 
always a strong tendency in the more favored classes 
to pass him by, and to forget, if not to despise him. 
But God does not forget him. The directions for 
his particular case are just as special and authorita- 
tive as any contained in this ritual. The Lord would 
thus assure him of his care — that he feels for him 
the same deep interest as for others, and brings 
atonement equally within his reach. There is a 
common level in the divine administrations, upon 
which "the rich and poor meet together, and the 

(270) 






THE POOR. 271 

Lord is the Maker of them all." The poor are his 
children, as well as the rich. He anointed his Son 
Jesus, to preach the Gospel to them. And the most 
neglected and down-trodden child of want has just 
as good a right to cleansing and heaven, and may 
count as much upon the sympathy and grace of God 
as his wealthy neighbor. If he cannot get three 
lambs, he is just as welcome and acceptable with one 
lamb and two doves. The poor widow's mite cast 
into the treasury of the Lord, receives a higher com- 
mendation than all the costly donations of the 
wealthy. Mary, with her two young pigeons, is just 
as completely cleansed, as she who could add thereto 
a lamb of a year old. 

But, although the law favored the leper who was 
poor, it did not exempt him. It accommodated the 
burden to his strength, but it did not remove it. If 
he could not bring three lambs, he was still bound 
to bring one lamb and two doves. If he could not 
get three deals of flour, one deal had to be forth- 
coming. There are some people who make poverty 
a virtue, and claim exemption from everything be- 
cause they are poor. But God's commands are upon 
the poor, as well as upon those more favored in 
earthly possessions. He does not excuse them be- 
cause they are indigent. They are sinners as well 
as other men, and must be cleansed by the same 
processes. There is no more merit in being poor 
than in being rich. Poverty cannot save a man. 
Beggars may go down to eternal death as well as 
millionaires. There is often as much crime in rags, 
as in purple and fine linen. All classes are infected ; 
and all classes must have recourse to the blood of the 
Lamb, and receive upon them the same " blood of 



272 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

sprinkling," and the same consecrating oil of the 
Spirit. Without this, no one can be cleansed, be he 
rich as Solomon, or indigent as Lazarus. " G-od 
commandeth all men everywhere to repent." All 
can come to Christ, and all must come to Christ. 
There is no other way of salvation. And no matter 
what may be an individual's earthly estate, there is 
no hope but in that High-priest whom G-od hath set 
over his house, to whom we must " draw near with a 
true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our 
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our 
bodies washed with pure water." 

A larger expression, however, is required from the 
rich than from the poor. In God's account, three 
lambs, and three tenth-deals of flour, are necessary 
on the part of the man of means, to equal the one 
lamb, and the one tenth-deal, on the part of the poor 
man. Religion levies upon every man, but those 
levies are always graduated according to our several 
ability. If we are able to give much, God holds us 
bound to give much, and we are unfaithful to our 
obligations if we do not give much ; and if we are 
not able to give much, we must still give something, 
and the little that we are able to give, if we give it 
with a believing heart, is the same in the eye of God 
as if we had given as much as the richest. If we 
have received freely, we must give freely. "Unto 
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much 
required." God has inserted this in his law and in 
his Gospel ; and no man is at liberty to disregard it. 

"With these remarks, I will now proceed to another 
subject, beginning with the thirty-third verse, and 



THE LEPROSY IN DWELLINGS. 273 

occupying the remainder of the chapter. Here we 
have the leprosy as it affected dwellings. 

The particular nature of this affection I cannot 
very certainly determine. Michaelis thinks it was a 
sort of mural efflorescence, which often appears in 
damp situations, cellars, and ground-floors, and so 
corrodes walls and plastering as to affect and damage 
everything near it, and sometimes quite destroying 
the entire building. Calmet thinks it was a disorder 
caused by animalculse which eroded the walls, and 
finally destroyed them, if left undisturbed. But 
perhaps we cannot do better than to agree with the 
Rabbins and early Christian Fathers, who believed 
that this leprosy was not natural, but sent of God as 
an extraordinary judgment, to compel men to the 
public acknowledgment and expiation of some unde- 
tected negligence or crime. It was the stone crying 
out of the wall against the sinner, and the beam out 
of the timber answering it. (Hab. 2 : 11.) It came 
like a great domestic affliction, saying, " This is not 
your rest, because it is polluted." It was the hand 
of God upon the forgetters of his law. It was "the 
curse of the Lord, in the house of the wicked." 

Its typical significance will at once suggest itself. 
It plainly points to the fact, that, not only man, and 
his surroundings in life, but his very dwelling-place 
— the earth itself — is infected. There is disorder 
attaching to the very rocks and ground on which we 
tread. Going back to God's reckoning with Adam, 
we there find it written, " Cursed is the ground for 
thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days 
of thy life ; thorns also and thistles shall it bring 
forth to thee." From that moment a cloud settled 
upon the glory in which the world was made. !Na- 



274 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

ture itself is a sufferer for the sin of man. " The 
creature was made subject to vanity." " The whole 
creation groaneth, and travaileth in pain together 
until now." A blur has come upon the beauty of 
the world, and a corroding leprosy into all its ele- 
ments, and discord into its pristine harmony. Tem- 
pests, floods, and fires; volcanoes, earthquakes, 
siroccos, and deserts ; inclement seasons, pestilential 
malaria, dangerous exhalations, and a thousand things 
of disharmony, pain and death, combine to form the 
sad echoes of the sentence pronounced in Eden. 
The whole surface and framework of the world be- 
speaks infection, disobedience, and disorder. "We 
must tear it with instruments of iron, and mix its 
mould with tears and sweat, before it will yield us 
bread. "Walls and houses must be built to shelter us 
from its angry blasts. And with all that we can do, 
the sea will now and then engulph the proudest 
navies, and the hailstones blast the budding harvests, 
and famine and pestilence cut down the strength of 
empires, and earthquakes bury up great cities in a 
common tomb, and the sun and the moon flash down 
death in their rays, and the very winds come laden 
with destruction. 

And even in a moral aspect, the material world, 
though meant for spiritual as well as other good, has 
often been to man a source of defilement. Creation 
is a standing miracle to show us Eternal Power and 
Godhead. Every ray of light is an electric cord, let 
down from the unknown heavens to lift our hearts 
into communion with " the Father of light." Every 
night puts us into the midst of a sublime temple in 
which the tapers burn around the everlasting altar, 
and through which rolls the vesper anthem of the 



[the leprosy in dwellings. 275 

heavenly spheres, to inspire us with adoration. And 
the innumerable changes that pass before our eyes, 
are but so many letters to spell out to us the name 
of the Unknown God, in whom we live and have 
our being. But, how often have these very things 
tended to establish men in unbelief, and tempted 
them from the ways of piety and peace ? How often 
have persons looked up into the starry sky, and rea- 
soned, until they were led to say, the Gospel is a 
forgery ? — or dug into the earth, and insisted that 
Moses was mistaken in its age ? — or cut among the 
arteries and tissues of organic life, and denied man's 
immortality? — or watched the uniformity of God's 
common laws, and pronounced a miracle impossi- 
ble ? — or dipped a little into physical science, and 
controverted the very existence of a Deity? How 
often have earth's products proven to be mere baits 
and lures to unguarded souls to lead them down to 
death ? How have its wines tempted men to intem- 
perance, and its beautiful groves to the licentiousness 
of the idolater ? How frequently the very gold or 
silver of its rocks have taken the place of God him- 
self, and fastened everlasting condemnation on the 
worshipper ? And what scene of beauty contained 
in this world, but has served to draw the heart of 
some one from the Lord? Aye, "the earth is denied 
under the inhabitants thereof. Because they have 
transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken 
the everlasting covenant; therefore hath the curse 
devoured the earth." 

Nature now is a crippled thing. She no longer 
does her work, for body or for soul, with the effi- 
ciency which was originally intended. She is leprous. 
Everywhere, there are signs of some corroding ail- 



276 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

ment. "When I stand all alone at night in open 
nature," says Goethe, "I feel as though it were a 
spirit, and begged redemption of me. Often have I 
had the feeling as if nature, in wailing sadness, en- 
treated something of me, so that not to understand 
what she longed for cut through my very heart." 
"What the sentimentalist thus saw and felt, the book 
of God explains. Yea, a the earth mourneth" — 
"the world languisheth" — "the whole creation 
groaneth" — the stroke of the Lord is in our house. 

But it shall not always be so. The leprosy in our 
dwelling-place may pass away as well as leprosy in our 
persons, or in our clothing. God has appointed rites 
for its cleansing. The time is coming when " there 
shall be no more curse." But it is to be the last thing 
cleansed. Regeneration begins first in the spirit. 
From the spirit it extends to the outward life, then 
to the redemption of the body. And after that comes 
the grand deliverance, when "the creature (or crea- 
tion) itself shall be delivered from the bondage of 
corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children 
of God." Eot only our personal nature is to be re- 
newed, but the very world in which we live. For 
" we, according to his promise, look for new heavens 
and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 
" Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and 
instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle-tree ; 
and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an ever- 
lasting sign that shall not be cut off." Christ took 
earth's thorns upon his head, and he will yet bear 
them quite away. He has mingled his tears and 
blood with its very dust, and its final sanctification 
is certain. He has knelt upon its mountains, walked 
on its seas, and gone down into the heart of its rocks, 



THE LEPROSY IN DWELLINGS. 277 

and set it apart to be his — the theatre of his media- 
torial triumphs, and the home of his saints. And it 
is only upon the theory of the ultimate and complete 
recovery of the world from all damage of sin, that 
the prescriptions now before us can be explained. 

The first thing to be done to a house found to be 
leprous, was, to have the affected stones removed, 
the walls scraped, and the plastering renewed. This 
done, all parties were to wait to see what the effect 
would be upon the disorder. This evidently recalls 
the flood, and God's dealings with the earth at that 
time. It was then that he broke up the old and 
tainted foundations, swept away the scum of its sur- 
face, and overcast it with a new order of things. It 
is impossible to say how great were the changes 
made in the structure and investiture of the earth by 
the deluge ; but we may suppose that they were very 
great. The occurrence is spoken of in the book of 
Job as a breaking down and overturning of the 
earth. "What was uppermost, went down ; and what 
was at the bottom of the sea was lifted into moun- 
tains. Rocks fresh from their deep quarries were 
put into the places of the old. A new arrangement 
of rivers and hills appeared. The old crust was 
broken and scraped off, and a fresh coating was put 
upon the face of the world. God did to it as he here 
orders for a leprous house, and said, " I will not again 
curse the ground any more for man's sake ; neither 
will I again smite any more every living thing as I 
have done." All is therefore in waiting now, till our 
great High-priest and Judge shall come forth again 
to inspect the earth. 

After the lapse of an appropriate time of trial, 
which is left indefinite in the record, the priest was 
24 



278 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

again to examine the house that had been thus dealt 
with ; and if the plague had broken out again, and 
had spread in the house, he was to break it down, 
"the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the 
mortar of the house, and carry them forth out of the 
city into an- unclean place." If the leprous symp- 
toms were not stayed, it was to be completely and 
forever demolished. There was no further hope for 
it. It perished in its uncleanness. Bonar, in his 
commentary on this book, considers this as a picture 
of the fate of this world. He thinks that the present 
earth is to be quite undone — " dissolved" — " burnt 
up" — and that out of its rubbish is to come the new 
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. This does 
great violence to the type. A house thus demolished 
was never to be rebuilt. It was unclean and undone 
for ever. ~No new fabric ever came out of it. It was 
only when a dwelling was past hope of cure that this 
end awaited it. The earth is not past hope. It is to 
be reclaimed. It is to be cleansed. It is not to perish 
for ever. I therefore take this direction as a type, 
not of what is to befall the world, but of what would 
have befallen it without the redemption that has come in 
to stay its corruption and save it from ruin. To take 
this demolition of the incurable house as a type of 
what this world is to come to, is to say that the curse 
has broken out afresh since the flood, and spread 
more thoroughly through the earth than at first; 
which is not the fact. It is no more an infected place 
now than in the days of the antedeluvians. We may 
say the plague is stayed. The effects of it are still 
present. It needs the cleansing ceremonies that are 
to restore it to its pristime purity and sweetness. 
But the plague is stayed. There is no spreading of 



THE LEPROSY IN DWELLINGS. 279 

it — no sign of a new outbreak. It has grown no 
worse since the time of Eoah. Like the recovered 
but still uncleansed leper, the earth may be regarded 
as lingering on the outskirts of the camp, calling for 
the Priest, and uttering its mournful prayers for his 
forthcoming. "The earnest expectation of the crea- 
ture waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of 
God." It is subjected to the same in hope. It is 
therefore the proper subject of those cleansing rites 
which yet remain to be considered. 

How, then, was a leprous house to be cleansed ? 
We have seen what was to be done to it upon the 
first appearance of the plague. We accordingly read, 
that, after the lapse of a suitable time to test whether 
the infection was stayed, " the priest shall come in 
and look upon it, and behold if the plague hath not 
spread in the house after it was plastered, then he 
shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar 
wood, and scarlet, and hyssop ; and he shall kill 
one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running 
water; and he shall take the cedar wood, and the 
hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip 
them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the run- 
ning water, and sprinkle the house seven times ; but 
he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the 
open fields, and make an atonement for the house, 
and it shall be clean." All this refers us back to the 
blood-shedding, death, and resurrection of Jesus 
Christ, and holds forth the great fact that the world 
is made clean to us now, and will be entirely cleansed 
hereafter, by virtue of the redemptive work of our 
great High-priest. It is "the blood of sprinkling," 
and "the washing of regeneration" in Christ Jesus, 
that does the business. It is part of Christ's pur- 



280 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

chase on Calvary, and a part of the efficacy of his 
resurrection and ascension, to cleanse the infected 
dwelling-place of man. He took the whole curse of 
earth upon him, and by his stripes everything is 
healed. The blood and water that fell from his cross 
upon the earth shall bless it. It has blessed it already. 
It speaketh better things than the blood of Abel. 
All its utterances are full of hope. Its words are 
promises. It says to every believer, " Thou shalt 
know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace ; and thou 
shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sin." It is 
God's seal to the assurance that " the righteous shall 
inherit the land, and dwell therein forever." Because 
Jesus was slain, and has redeemed us to God by his 
blood, the saints may take it as their song, " We shall 
reign on the earth." 

Some suppose that this dwelling-place of man is 
some day to fall to pieces, and pass away, and be no 
more. Had Christ not died, or having died, not 
risen again, it might be so ; but now a light of glory 
rises upon its futurity. It shall not die, but live. 
Great changes may yet pass upon it, but it shall 
survive unharmed. The theatre of the Savior's 
mighty deeds of love shall not be blotted out. The 
rocks on which he knelt, the dust he wore upon him- 
self, the waters that he consecrated, shall never 
become trophies of hell, or the prey of destruction. 
This wide world shall yet become an Eden, where 
none shall shiver amid arctic frosts, or wither under 
tropic heat, or lie down and perish with disease. 
These fields of snow and arid sands shall all blossom 
yet with roses. And whatever may be the pangs of 
that new birth, when he that sitteth on the throne 
shall make all things new, these very hills shall clap 



SECRET UNCLEANNESS. 281 

their hands, and these valleys lift up their voices, 
and this whole down-trodden earth rejoice in a fin- 
ished redemption, when " the wolf shall dwell with 
the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid, and 
the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, 
and a little child shall lead them." This world was 
heaven's gift to man. It was his patrimonial estate. 
It was his sin that blighted it. And just so far as he 
is redeemed, he shall get his own again, and hold it 
by a charter written in his Savior's blood. " Blessed 
are the meeJc,for they shall inherit the earth." 

We pass now to the fifteenth chapter. It is not 
necessary that I should read it. It is a collection of 
types of the secret flow of sin. All the uncleannesses 
here enumerated, are such as were, for the most part, 
unknown except to the individual alone. They must 
therefore refer to sins of solitude and secresy. The 
lesson is here taught, that we may be great sinners 
without anybody else knowing anything about it. 
There may be no word spoken, no act done, no vol- 
untary motion put forth, and we still be unclean by 
a silent and unintentional oozing out of a carnal 
heart. There may be a very correct exterior life, and 
yet a secret cherishing of pride, and lust, and unbe- 
lief, and a secret painting of the walls with imagery, 
as much unfitting us for the society of the pure and 
good, as any open and outbreaking wickedness. 
" The lively imagination of a gay poetic mind is not 
less sinful when it scatters forth its luscious images, 
than the dull brutal feelings of the stupid, ignorant 
boor." "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." 
Even the quiet and involuntary exudations of natural 
feeling are often to be numbered with the uncleanest 
things. 

24* 



282 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

It is amazing how deep-seated the contaminations 
of sin are. A man may be truly penitent. He may 
be a true believer. He may be set to be a good ser- 
vant of God. The empire of sin may be dethroned 
in his heart. And yet, every now and then, he will 
find the disgusting un cleanness of sin quietly and 
unintentionally escaping from him, contaminating 
himself and those who come in contact with him, or 
touch what he has touched. His whole nature is yet 
so full of remaining corruption, that the least agita- 
tion causes it to trickle over. He lies down to sleep, 
and presently he finds it in his dreams. He puts 
forth his hand to welcome a friend, and the very 
touch sometimes awakes wrong echoes in the soul. 
He is accidentally thrown into the mere neighbor- 
hood of sin, and the very atmosphere about him seems 
at times to be laden with excitations of impurity. His 
depravity cleaves to him like an old sore. It defiles his 
solitude with unclean thoughts. It taints his repose 
with the outnowings of evil. It springs un cleanness 
upon him in his holiest associations. And even in 
his looks towards heaven, it interposes suggestions 
which come like impure birds between him and the 
sky. In all situations, towards all persons, at all 
seasons, this remaining filthiness of the secret soul 
will occasionally obtrude itself. "I find a law," says 
Paul, " that when I would do good, evil is present 
with me." There is no escape in this world from the 
workings of inborn evil. "If a man have an ill 
neighbor," says the distinguished but quaint Boston, 
"he may remove ; if he have an ill servant, he may 
put him away at the term ; if he have a bad yoke- 
fellow, he may sometimes leave the house, and be 
free of molestation in that way; but should the saint 



SECRET UNCLEANNESS. 283 

go into a wilderness, or set up his tent in some remote 
rock in the sea, where never foot of man, beast, nor 
fowl had touched, there it will be with him. Should 
he be, with Paul, caught up to the third heavens, it 
will come back with him. It follows him as the 
shadow does the body ; it makes a blot in the fairest 
line he can draw. It is like the fig-tree in the wall, 
which, how nearly soever it was cut, yet still grew 
till the wall was thrown down." "I know," says 
Paul, " that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwell eth no 
good thing. ... wretched man that I am ! who 
shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" 

]STor are these secret and involuntary outflowings 
of corruption mere trifles, unworthy of notice. They 
are here set forth under images and types among 
the most offensive and disgusting. They are too 
loathsome for public recital — too hideous even 
for the mind to dwell upon. God intends thus to 
signify his deep abhorrence of our inherent corrup- 
tions. He means to intimate to us that we have 
reason to be ashamed and confounded at the secret 
disorder which still works in us. Nay, he yet adds 
to these defilements a judicial sentence. They were 
uncleannesses which excluded from the sanctuary, 
and everything holy. They brought condemnation 
with them. And some of them were so bad as to 
need atonement by blood. The unclean thoughts, 
desires, and imaginations which casually rise unbidden 
in the heart, even the unholy dreams that flit over us 
when we sleep, and the blushes of passion which 
flash upon us in a moment, are things offensive to 
the pure eye of God, and would ruin us for ever, were 
it not for the ever efficacious blood of Christ, and the 
clean flood of grace that comes in ever and anon to 



284 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

wash out after these filthy intruders, "We need, there- 
fore, to be on our guard against the beginnings of 
evil. We have reason to take alarm at the most 
silent wish, and at the most quiet complacence in 
the contemplation of sin. These are usually the 
germs of transgression — the floating seeds which 
drop into the heart, ready at any moment to 
strike root and spring up into deadly iniquity. We 
should regard them as the hiss and rattle of the ser- 
pent admonishing us of the presence of danger. 
Yielding to them in the least, we take a viper to our 
breasts which may sting us unto death. 

It is indeed melancholy, my brethren, that we, as 
Christians, still have so much impurity cleaving to 
us — that with all our efforts so much evil still works 
in us — that with all our penitence, prayers and re- 
solves, there yet is this frequent oozing out of con- 
tamination — that with all the doings of God to 
cleanse us, we still have so much cause to hang our 
heads in shame, and humble ourselves in dust and 
ashes — that not one of us but would blush and be 
mortified almost to death to have all our thoughts 
and feelings suddenly laid open to the inspection of 
those around us. But still it is not without its good 
effects. We need something to keep us humble, to 
drive us continually to the throne of grace, and to 
keep us ever mindful of our dependence upon the 
mercy of God. If we were not troubled with these 
secret flows of sin, we would be in great danger of 
growing spiritually proud, negligent, and over-confi- 
dent. But this keeps us down at the foot of the 
cross, and ever prompts to more earnest prayer, and 
keeps the soul from stagnation. It makes us feel 
the presence and power of the foe, that we may be 



SECRET UNCLEANNESS. 285 

stirred up to ever-renewed zeal, and be strengthened 
the more by onr trying encounters with the enemy. 
It helps to soften us towards the failings of others, 
and to make us charitable in our judgments of 
offenders. Though it is painful, and keeps us in 
constant peril of making shipwreck of our faith, I 
do not know whether I would have it otherwise if I 
could. I fear that we should be too much at rest 
and satisfied in this present world, if we were not 
thus made to feel the inconvenience of living in the 
flesh. It helps greatly to reconcile us to the idea of 
dying. It contributes to make our dying day, a 
blessed day ; because it will put an everlasting end 
to these vexations. Then we shall be delivered 
"from the body of this death." 

Sweet is the scene where Christians die, 
"Where holy souls retire to rest ; 

and all the more sweet, because it ends the strife 
with corruption, and lands the soul beyond the reach 
of earth's temptations. Farewell then to the languor 
that now comes in to load our hearts with miry clay, 
and to the unstable thoughts that wander off when 
we bow the knee before our Maker. Farewell then 
to those base imaginings which come in in spite of 
us to mar our devotions and disturb our peace, and 
to all those hidden flows of sin whose uncleanness 
comes upon us when we sleep and when we wake. 
"We may not be clean till evening comes ; but with 
its balmy shades and starry glories, the yoke shall 
drop from our necks, and we shall lie down under 
the eyes of watchful angels, and be for ever at rest. 
Egypt may pursue us to the sea, and its men of war 
go with us into the waves, but there shall the op- 



286 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

pressor cease. From that flood he shall never rise 
again. He shall never reach the other shore, or set 
foot in heaven. God shall there take off his chariot- 
wheels, and he shall pursue and oppress us no more. 
Oh, happy, happy day ! that thus lays all our tor- 
mentors for~ ever with the dead. 

And then, again, this constant consciousness of sin 
assists in endearing to us the cross and righteousness 
of Jesus. Though evil ever works within us, we 
have a remedy. We have an Advocate in heaven 
ever interceding for us. Though uncleanness clings 
to us, life and purity flows down through him to 
cover our unrighteousness and to help our infirmi- 
ties. With all our weaknesses, in him we are strong. 
Let faith but touch the hem of his garment, and 
healing is at hand. Let the poor sinner but press to 
him, and all these disgusting issues shall be as though 
they were not. Blessed Physician, that God hath 
sent to us from the heavens ! How precious the 
virtue that goeth out from him ! He healeth all our 
diseases. His blood cleanseth from all sin. 

Allow me, then, my dear friends, to commend this 
Savior to you. He is what you need; and he is 
ready to become everything to you that is necessary 
to complete your peace. You may find yourself full 
of sin ; but he is able to cleanse you. You may be 
poor and friendless ; but he sympathizes with you, 
and proposes to you eternal riches. In more than 
angelic meekness, he spreads out his hands to you, 
and says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Only accept 
that call, and you shall be blessed forever. 



SIXTEENTH LECTUEE. 

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 

LEV. CHAP. XVI. 

Some have thought, that the proper place for this 
chapter is immediately after the tenth, instead of 
after the fifteenth. It has "been supposed, that the 
delivery of it was thus delayed, by accident — in con- 
sequence of the sin and fall of Nadab and Abihu. 
To me, its proper place seems to be exactly where 
God has put it. It is a sort of synopsis and con- 
densed recapitulation of all that has preceded it. It 
sums up in one grand and solemn national service 
all that had previously been given in minute detail. 
And just so far as it would be incongruous and illo- 
gical to recapitulate before going through with the 
principal discourse, it would have been improper to 
introduce this chapter at an earlier stage in the deli- 
very of these laws. Thus far, three principal sub- 
jects have been considered: Offerings, Priests, and 
Sin, for which they were intended to be the remedy. 
We now come to survey them all under one single 
view. 

There is often much gained by frequent repetition. 
It is by going over his lessons again and again, that 
the school-boy masters his tasks, and becomes so 
much wiser than he was before. It is by the oft 
hearing of a thought, that it becomes rooted in our 
hearts, and welds itself to our souls as a part of our 

(287) 



288 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS, 

mentai life. The success of the pulpit, and the 
benefit of our weekly attentions upon the sanctuary, 
depend much more upon the continuous reiteration 
of the same great truths of the Gospel, than upon 
any power of invention in the preacher. It is not 
so much the presentation of new thoughts and bril- 
liant originalities that converts men and builds them 
up in holiness, as the clear and constant exhibition 
of the plain doctrines of grace. When Dr. Chalmers 
was asked to what he attributed his success in the 
ministry, he answered, " Under God, to one thing ; 
repetition, repetition, repetition." And so God, in 
his law, reiterates and repeats in details and in sum- 
maries, line upon line, and precept upon precept, to 
ground his people well in all the great facts of his 
will and purposes. 

The chapter before us prescribes the most solemn 
and interesting round of ceremonies contained in the 
Hebrew ritual. It presents God's law for the great 
Day of Atonement — the most impressive day in the 
Jewish calender — a day to which all classes looked 
with peculiar anxiety — a day when they were to lay 
aside every secular employment and afflict their 
souls — the day when the high-priest was to go into 
the Holy of holies, and to make an atonement for 
all the sins, irreverences, and pollutions of Israel, 
from himself down to the lowest of the people, for 
the entire year — a day of solemnities connecting di- 
rectly with Calvary and the whole redemption work 
of Christ Jesus. In this light, then, let us consider 
it, and endeavor to have our minds filled, and our 
hearts warmed by the glorious truths which it was 
meant to foreshadow. 

By referring to the 29th verse, you will find that 



THE DAY OP ATONEMENT. 289 

this day of atonement was appointed for " the seventh 
month."- Seven, as you remember, is a symbol of 
completeness. This location of these solemnities in 
the seventh month, would therefore seem to refer to 
the fact noted by the apostle, that it was only "when 
the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his 
Son to redeem them that were under the law." 
There is wisdom and order in all God's arrangements. 
Had Christ come earlier than he did, though the in- 
trinsic virtue of his mediatorial work would have 
been the same, yet, the absence of due preparation 
to appreciate, receive and spread it, would have 
rendered it much less influential upon mankind. 
His coming was accordingly delayed until that 
Augustan age, when his cross would necessarily stand 
in the centre of history and in sight of all the nations 
of the earth. He lived when the world was suffi- 
ciently at peace to give him a hearing — when the 
human mind was maturely developed, and compe- 
tent to investigate his claims — when the ways were 
sufficiently open for the immediate universal pro- 
mulgation of his Gospel — and when the experience 
of four thousand years was before men to prove to 
them how much they needed such a teacher and 
priest as he. His appearance, therefore, to take 
away our sins, was in " the fulness of time" — in the 
Tisri or September of the world — when everything 
was mature and ripe. He put the day of atonement 
in " the seventh month." 

You will also notice that this great expiation ser- 
vice occurred but once in a complete revolution of 
time — " once a year" A year is a full and com- 
plete period. There is no time which does not fall 
within the year. And the occurrence of the day of 
25 t 



290 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

atonement but once in the entire year plainly pointed 
to another great fact noted by the apostle, that 
"Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." 
There is no repetition in his sacrificial work. In the 
whole year of time there is but one atonement day. 
The common sacrifices were repeated every morning 
and evening, to show that men are constantly in 
need of atoning services ; but the great transaction 
in which that atonement was really effected was per- 
formed but once in a complete period. "When our 
High-priest made his great expiation in the seventh 
month, it referred back to all the past months of the 
world's age, and forward to all months to come. 
There is a mighty sublimity in this thought. It 
throws a grandeur around the cross of Calvary which 
renders it awful to contemplate, even apart from any 
other considerations. It was there the ages met. 
There are no days for man which were not re- 
presented in that one atonement day. It is the 
keystone of the arch which spans from eternity to 
eternity. The events of that day have no parallel in 
history. They constitute the one, great, and only 
transaction of the sort in all the revolutions of time. 
To gaze upon the scenes of that occasion is to be- 
hold what the world for four thousand years was 
waiting for — what has absorbed the profound atten- 
tion of the good in all ages — and what shall be the 
chief theme of the songs and celebrations of ever- 
lasting life. " Christ was once offered;" and in that 
one offering of himself, all the eras of human exist- 
ence were condensed and included. It was the event 
of this world's year. 

It is also to be observed, that the atoning services 
of this remarkable day had respect to the whole 



THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 291 

nation at once. They were " to make an atonement 
for the priests, and for all the people of the congre- 
gation." Most of the other offerings were personal, 
having respect to particular individuals, and to special 
cases of sin, uncleanness, or anxiety. But, on this 
day, the offerings were general, and the atonement 
had respect to the entire people. This recalls another 
great evangelic truth, namely, that Christ " died for 
all" — " gave himself a ransom for all" — "by the grace 
of God tasted death for every man" — and u is the pro- 
pitiation for the sins of the whole world." There are 
theologians who talk of "a limited atonement." 
But, if they mean by this that the expiatory suffer- 
ings of Christ were not meant for all men, I must 
reject such theology as unscriptural. Jesus com- 
mands that his Gospel be preached "to every crea- 
ture ;" and if it was not meant for " every creature," 
I cannot see how to justify the command. The angel 
who announced the Savior's advent, said, " Behold, 
I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be 
to all people." But these good tidings are no good 
tidings to those for whom they were not intended. 
To offer people redemption and eternal life which 
never was meant for them, would be, not to bring 
them good tidings, but to mock them. And as the 
Gospel is to be good news to all, it must needs be 
available to all. The apostle says, in so many words, 
that "the offering of the body of Jesus Christ" was 
made " once for all." (Heb. 10 : 10.) Not all are 
benefitted to the same extent — not all are reconciled 
and saved — but the reason is that some despise, 
spurn or neglect a salvation brought to their very 
doors, and by unbelief make themselves guilty of the 
blood of Him who laid down His life for them as well as 



292 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

for others. It is no fault of the atoning regulations, 
and owing to no lameness or arbitrary limitations in 
the remedy for sin. Redemption is free. The day 
of atonement was meant to provide forgiveness for 
the whole people. 

Let us then look a little more particularly into the 
transactions of this important day. I propose to 
consider them first, as regarded the high-priest, upon 
whom all the services of the occasion devolved; 
second, as regards the atonement itself; and third, as 
regarded the people to be benefitted. Having sur- 
veyed these particulars, we may form a correct con- 
ception of the great day of atonement. 

1. It was to the high-priest a day which imposed 
numerous inconveniencies, anxieties and humilia- 
tions. Seven days before it came, it severed him 
from his family and home, and confined him to the 
work of preparation for w T hat was coming. The 
humbler duties, which at other times devolved upon 
the ordinary priests, all were on that day to be per- 
formed by him. He was put upon slender diet, and, 
on the atonement day, was required to fast entirely 
until evening. In order to enter upon the atonement 
services, he had to divest himself of all his high- 
priestly habiliments and put on the simple linen dress 
of one of the common priests. And to all this was 
added fear and trembling lest he should die as he 
went into the holy of holies. And so was it with 
our great High-priest when he undertook to expiate 
the guilt of man. " Being in the form of God, and 
thinking it not robbery to be equal with God, he 
made himself of no reputation, and took upon him 
the form of a servant, and humbled himself, and be- 
came obedient unto death." Separated from his 



THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 293 

heavenly home he became a suffering, laborious, self- 
denying servant. "No gold glittered upon his brow, 
or tinkled with his steps, or mingled its glory with 
royal colors to adorn his robe. No jewelry sparkled 
on his shoulders or on his breast. £To chariots of 
grandeur bore him to the place of his mighty deeds 
of love. He did have on a robe of purple ; but it 
was a robe of mockery. He did wear a crown ; but 
a crown of thorns, pressed on his brow by malicious 
enemies. He had in his hand a sceptre ; but it was 
"a reed," placed there in contempt to deepen his 
abasement. " Though he was rich, yet for your 
sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty 
might be made rich." Though he had glory with 
the Father before the world was, he laid it all aside, 
and went forth with " neither form nor comeliness, 
nor beauty that we should desire him." And thus 
amid privations, humiliations, and anxieties which 
made him. sorrowful even unto death, did he go 
through with the services of the great day of the 
world's expiation. 

2. It was to the high-priest a day which imposed 
all its services upon him alone. He was neither to 
be accompanied nor assisted by any one. Everything 
to be done was to be done by himself, with his own 
hands. The law said, " There shall be no man in 
the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in 
to make an atonement in the holy place, until he 
come out, and have made an atonement for himself, 
and for his household, and for all the congregation 
of Israel." Even the ordinary services on this par- 
ticular day, the trimming of the lamps, the reviving 
of the fires, the daily sacrifices, the slaying of the 
animals, the carrying and sprinkling of the blood, 
25* 



294 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

the burning of the sacrifices and incense, everything 
had to be done by himself alone. Thus, when Jesus 
undertook the expiation of the world's guilt, " of the 
people, there was none with him." No one shared 
in the labor. Isaiah says, " I looked, and there was 
none to help." His "own arm brought salvation." 
He "his own self bore our sins in his own body on 
the tree." "When his soul was made an offering for 
sin, it was he alone that officiated. On that solemn 
day, all helpers were withdrawn. Lover and friend 
were put far from him. All alone he wrestled in the 
garden. All alone he hung upon the cross. Even 
his heavenly Father seemed to retire from him. All 
the hopes of the world trembled in that one breaking 
heart, isolated and unhelped. If he faltered, or his 
strength failed, salvation was lost for ever. The cup 
was given him to drink, and there was silence in 
heaven whilst he shuddered over it. The immor- 
tality of millions hung upon his drinking of it. And 
amid " sweat, as it were great drops of blood falling 
down to the ground," he said, " my Father, if this 
cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy 
will be done ;" and he drained it with all its bitter 
dregs, alone. Ask him now, "Wherefore art thou 
red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that 
treadeth the wine-fat?" and the response is, " I have 
trodden the wine-press ALONE ; and of the people there 
was none with me." 

3. The day of atonement was to the high-priest also 
a very oppressive and exhausting day. His duties, 
in his complete isolation, were really crushing. The 
mere responsibility that was upon him that day was 
a weight that not every man could bear. In addition 
to that, he had all the duties concerning the holy 



THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 295 

ordinances and the sanctuary to perform, including 
the slaying and offering of some fifteen or seventeen 
animals. So laborious and trying was his work, 
that, after it was over, the people gathered round 
him with sympathy and congratulation that he was 
brought through it in safety. But it was only a 
picture of that still more crushing load which was 
laid upon our great High-priest when making atone- 
ment for the sins of the world. None among all the 
sons of the mighty could ever have performed the 
work which he performed, and lived. All his life 
through, there was a weight upon him so heavy, and 
ever pressing so mightily upon his soul, that there is 
no account that he ever smiled. Groans and tears 
and deep oppression accompanied him at almost 
every step. And when we come to view him in his 
agonizing watchings and prayers in the garden, and 
under the burdens of insult and wrong which were 
heaped upon him in the halls of judgment, and 
struggling with his load along that dolorous way until 
the muscles of his frame yielded, and he fell faint 
upon the ground, and oppressed upon the cross until 
his inmost soul uttered itself in cries which startled 
the heavens and shook the world, we have an exhi- 
bition of labor, exhaustion, and distress, at which we 
may well sit down and gaze, and wonder, and weep, 
in mere sympathy with a sorrow and bitterness 
beyond all other sorrow. 

Tell me, ye who hear him groaning, 
Was there ever grief like his ? 

II. We come now to look at the atonement itself. 
Here we find that several kinds of offerings were to 
be made. The object was to make the picture com- 



296 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

plete by bringing out in different offerings what 
could not all be expressed by one. They were only 
different phases of the same unity, pointing to the 
one offering of Jesus " Christ, who through the 
Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God." 
There was a ram for a burnt-offering, and a kid for 
a sin-offering, not to signify that Christ was offered 
more than once, or that there was another offering 
beside his ; but to set forth the fact, that Christ's one 
offering was for all kinds of sin; as it is written, 
" The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." 
There is a multiplication of victims, that we may see 
the amplitude and varied applications of the one 
great atonement effected by Christ Jesus. 

The most vital, essential, and remarkable of these 
atoning services was that relating to the two goats, 
as provided for in the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, 
fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, twenty-first and 
twenty-second verses. One of these goats was to be 
slain as a sin-offering, and the other was to have the 
sins of Israel laid upon its head, and then to be taken 
away alive and left in the wilderness. The one 
typified the atonement of Christ in its means and 
essence; the other, the same atonement in its effects. 

It may at first seem a little repulsive to us, to have 
the blessed Savior typified by a goat. The animal 
familiar to us by this name, and our tastes respecting 
it, are by no means favorable to such an association 
of ideas. But the Syrian goat is a graceful, dignified 
and clean animal. It was often used as the symbol 
of leadership and royalty. It was very highly appre- 
ciated by the Jews, and was one of the most valu- 
able of their domestic animals. It had none of those 
bad associations which attach to our goats. The 






THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 297 

laws of Moses contemplate it with great favor. To 
an ancient Israelite, it was a pure, elevated, vigorous, 
useful and noble creature. Contemplating Christ 
through it, they would have conceived of him as a 
great leader, strong, virtuous and exalted. 

The goats to be used on the day of atonement were 
these Syrian goats — kids of the first year, without 
blemish — pictures of our Propitiation, spotless, per- 
fect, and elected to bleed on God's altar in the fresh- 
ness, prime and vigor of his manhood. They were 
to be furnished by the congregation of Israel, pro- 
cured at the expense of the public treasury, and 
brought forward by the people. So there was a price 
paid by the Jewish officials for the apprehension of 
Jesus. At thirty pieces of silver they procured him. 
And the people brought him forward to the altar, 
saying, " Crucify him, crucify Mm ! " The sacred lot 
was to decide which one should die. So, after all, 
it was God who made the selection. It was the 
Eternal Father who set apart Christ to bleed for 
man. The Jews acted out their own malicious 
counsel when they brought him to the slaughter; 
but he was, at the same time, " delivered by the de- 
terminate counsel and foreknowledge of God." (Acts 
2 : 23.) 

The lot having designated the victim, it was to be 
slain. " Without the shedding of blood is no remis- 
sion." Israel's sins demanded an offering, and the 
sacrificial blade soon left that spotless lamb quivering 
in the agonies of death. The law said to Aaron, 
" Kill the goat of the sin-offering ;" " and he did as 
the Lord commanded." And thus was the blessed 
Savior brought as a lamb to the slaughter. The 
guilt of ages was crying out for blood ; and the holy 



298 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 



ord, 



law pointed to him, and said, "Awake, sword 
against the man!" Heaven looked on in breathless 
wonder. Bound hand and foot to the stake with 
rugged irons, the clammy sweat gathered on his 
brow, the languor of receding life settled in his eyes, 
the exclamations of an unmeasured inward anguish 
quivered on his parched and sorrowful lips, a con- 
vulsive struggle thrilled through his mangled frame, 
at which a tremor ran down all nature's nerves, and 
the Lamb of Grod hung dead in the face of heavens, 
which shut their day-beams up and staggered at the 
awful spectacle ! He was taken, and with wicked 
hands was crucified and slain — slain as the sacrifice 
for the sins of the world ! 

I know that there are great and perplexing myste- 
ries surrounding this doctrine, at which the faith of 
some is staggered. Nor would I expect to find it 
otherwise with reference to a subject which is at 
once the centre of all revelation — the treaty ground 
on which the sublime attributes of Deity embraced 
each other and united in the wondrous offer of am- 
nesty and reconciliation to a race of rebels under 
sentence of eternal death — the very foundation of a 
plan of grace which lay before the great mind of 
God for unmeasured ages, as the chosen and ap- 
pointed outlet of glorious immortality to fallen man. 
The mere signs and manifestations of nature, which 
attended the death of Jesus, are beyond the grasp 
of human comprehension ; and how much less, then, 
is it for man to reason out all 

— the sweet wonders of that cross, 

Where God the Savior loved and died! 

But of this I am assured, that " Christ, our passover, 
was slain for us;" that "for the transgression of my 



THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 299 

people was lie smitten;" that "his soul was made an 
offering for sin;" that "we were not redeemed with 
corruptible things . . . but by the precious blood of 
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without 
spot;" and hence, that in the crucifixion of Jesus of 
Nazareth, the great foundation was laid which is the 
stepping stone to glory and eternal life. 

But, the mere slaying of the victim was not all. 
Its blood had to be carried and sprinkled before the 
Lord in the Holy of holies. 

The mere death of Christ was not the atonement. 
It was the preparation, material, groundwork, for 
the atonement; but not the atonement itself. He 
needed to rise from the dead, and ascend into hea- 
ven, and "appear in the presence of God for us," 
before all the requirements of the case were^met. 
Hence, Jesus, made an High-priest for ever, has 
" for us entered within the veil" — " passed into the 
heavens" — "not into the holy places made with 
hands, which are figures of the true, but into heaven 
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us ;" 
— "not with the blood of goats and calves, but with 
his own blood, he entered in once into the holy 
place," and is "even at the right hand of God 
making intercession for us." And by these holy 
services, which are now going on in heaven, it is, 
that he " obtains eternal redemption for us." 

The Father hears him pray, 

His dear anointed One ; 
He cannot turn away, 

Cannot refuse his Son ; 
The Spirit answers to the blood, 
And tells us we are born of God. 



300 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

The offering is accepted. The cry of wrath is hushed. 
The account of sin is cancelled. Believing Israel is 
cleansed and free ! 

Now, the more effectually to portray and signify 
this forgiveness, was the second goat introduced into 
these services. The law said, Then "Aaron shall lay 
both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and 
confess over him all the iniquities of the children of 
Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, 
putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall 
send him away into the wilderness; and the goat 
shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land 
not inhabited ; and he shall let go the goat in the 
wilderness." Interpreters have been at a great loss 
in disposing of this scape-goat, and have shown great 
fertility of imagination in explaining what it signi- 
fies. Some think it was a prophecy of the subsequent 
fate of the Jews ; some, that it was a type of Christ's 
temptation in the wilderness ; and some, that it re- 
presents something devoted to the devil. If any of 
my hearers can receive opinions so wild and incon- 
gruous, they are at liberty to adopt them. The true 
interpretation seems to me so plain, that I am sur- 
prised to find that any one should have missed it. 
That the scape-goat was meant to represent Christ, 
in some aspect of his atoning services, I have not a 
shadow of doubt. Everything on the great day of 
expiation referred to Christ. It was a condensed 
pictorial summary of redemption through the Son 
of God. And I cannot see how this goat can be 
made to insinuate any other subject. Only give this 
goat its proper place in the service, and every diffi- 
culty vanishes. 

You will notice, that the scape-goat is not intro- 



THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 301 

duced until after the first goat had been slaughtered, 
and its blood accepted as an atonement in the holy 
of holies. It does not therefore refer to anything in 
the Savior's history by which atonement was made, 
but to something subsequent — something going out 
from the atonement — to some effects or results. It 
does not represent Christ in his temptation, dying, 
rising, ascending, or intercession, but in the blessed 
consequences flowing out from these to such as believe. 
Christ is the scape-goat, in so far as he bears away 
our sins where they are seen and heard of no more. 
Nor can I conceive of a more beautiful or impressive 
figure. There stood the gentle creature, meekly re- 
ceiving upon its head " all the iniquities of the chil- 
dren of Israel." In that I see a picture of the patient 
Savior as "the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us 
all." The victim is led forth, and passes out of sight. 
In that I behold the bearing away of the load of sin 
from all them that believe. The animal is set loose 
in the wilderness and is seen no more. It is the 
significant symbol of the penitent sinner's forgive- 
ness. His guilt is borne quite away out of view. It 
is remembered against him no more. It is clean 
gone for ever. Christ his scape-goat has borne it to 
the unknown land from which it shall return no 
more. With this the atonement of the great day 
was complete. 

III. A word now with regard to the people to be 
benefitted by the services of this remarkable day. 

That the services and offerings of this day were 
meant for the entire Jewish nation, is very clear and 
distinct. But, not all were therefore reconciled and 
forgiven. The efficacy of these services, in any given 
case, depended upon the individual himself. There 
26 



302 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

was a way prescribed for the people to keep the day ; 
and to fail in that, was, of course, to fail in the 
benefits of the day of atonement. It was a day on 
which God's requirement was, " Ye shall afflict your 
souls, and do no work at all. It shall be a Sabbath of 
rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls." There 
was a practical and spiritual experience to go along 
with the priestly services. The blood, and sacrifice, 
and incense, and solemn entrance into the Holy of 
holies could do no one any good, and the scape-goat 
bore no one's sins away to forgetfulness, who did not 
come to these services with humbled and penitent 
hearts, and afflicted souls. The atonement day was 
to be a day of contrition — of weeping — of soul-sor- 
row for sin — of confession, reformation, and return 
to God — a day of heart-melting and charity. With- 
out these accompaniments, its oblations were vain, 
its incense useless, its solemnities but idle ceremo- 
nies. And, as it was with the type, so is it with the 
antitype. Christ's atonement is not for them who 
know not how to appreciate it, whose hearts are not 
softened to contrition by his dying love, who feel no 
compunction for their sins which murdered him, and 
no fond affection for those whom he has redeemed. 
In vain do we dream of heaven, if we have not re- 
pented of our wickednesses, or think of condemna- 
tion gone, if we have not broken with all our evil 
ways. Useless is it to talk of penances and fasts, of 
good deeds and charities, if the spirit aches not at 
the remembrance of Calvary. Naught to our souls 
is all the pardon-speaking blood of Jesus, if there be 
no breaking and contrition in our own hearts to ac- 
company the offering of it. Nay, without repent- 
ance on our part, his glorious mediation fails to be- 



THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 303 

come ours, and is the same, yea worse, to us than if 
it had not been. " Wash you ; make you clean ; put 
away the evil of your doings ; cease to do evil ; learn 
to do well ; judge the fatherless ; plead for the widow; 
cover the naked; and out of cheerful gratitude to 
Him who bled for thee, go do his holy bidding ;" — 
such are the commands that are upon us to render 
us acceptable worshippers. " It is such a fast that I 
have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul," saith 
the Lord. 

Would you then have Christ's atoning day to be a 
blessing to thy soul, come to it with a moved and 
melting heart. Come to it with thy spirit bowed for 
thy many, many sins. Come to it as the humbled 
prodigal came back to the kind Father he had 
wronged. Come to it as the poor heart-broken 
publican came, smiting thy guilty breast and crying, 
" God be merciful to me a sinner!" Think of 
Gethsemane, and weep. Think of Calvary, and weep. 
Think of the Savior's great agonies, and weep. 
Weep in sympathetic sorrow for his mighty griefs. 
Weep at the sad wrongs which there came upon 
celestial innocence for thy good. Weep at the prayers 
of love and intercession which thy dying Redeemer 
poured out even for his murderers, among whom 
thou art, in a sense, to be numbered. Weep at being 
an inhabitant of a world and a member of a race 
that could thus abuse and kill the very Son of God. 
Weep at the nails and spear that pierced him, and 
the crown of thorns pressed on his bleeding brow, 
and at the anguish uttered in his expiring cries so 
meekly borne for thee. Press to his cross and plead 
to be forgiven. Tall on thy face at his grace, and 



304 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

abhor thyself for the vileness that could be expiated 
only at such a price. Yea, enter that rocky cavern 
damp and dark, and lay thy hand upon his cold and 
bloody forehead, and mourn there at that guilt of 
thine which murdered him. Afflict thy soul, and 
weep ; weep bitterly ; but weep in hope that there 
is pardon yet through that precious Savior's death ; 
so shall thy light break forth as the morning, and 
thy peace flow as a river. 

It was a beautiful arrangement in this connection, 
that when the year of jubilee came, it always begun 
with the evening of this day of atonement. The law 
says : "Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the 
jubilee to sound: in the day of atonement shall ye 
make the trumpet sound throughout all your land." 
The day was interesting and beautiful from its 
earliest commencement. If you would have been in 
Jerusalem as the atonement day drew on, the night 
before, you would have seen the city become silent 
and still, as the sun set. No lingerers in the market ; 
no traders; no voice of business. The watchmen 
that go about the city, you would have heard hum- 
ming the penitential psalms, reminding themselves 
of their own and their city's secret sins, seen through 
the darkness by an all-seeing God ; and the Levites 
from the temple singing responsively as they walked 
around the courts. As the sun rose again on the 
Mount of Olives and brought the hour of morning 
sacrifice, you would have seen the city pour out its 
thousands, moving solemnly to the temple — to the 
heights of Zion's towers or the grassy slopes of 
Olivet — to witness with contrite hearts the solemn 
services which were to take away their sins. The 



THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 305 

priestly duties having been performed — the atone- 
ment made — the scape-goat led away and gone — 
and the hearts of the people bowed in humble thank- 
fulness for the favors God had shown them — it 
remained only for Aaron to put off his linen gar- 
ments, put on his attirements of gold, purple, and 
jewels, and make his appearance once more; and 
instantly, the silver trumpet sounded, and the shouts 
of Israel echoed over Olivet, and thrilled through 
all the land: "The year of jubilee is come !" In the 
morning there was bitterness and tears. In the 
evening there was triumphant peace. The day of 
the sinner's soul-sorrow begins the year of his rest. 

Such, then, is the great day of atonement, in its 
type and in its antitype — a wondrous day — a day 
on which all man's days of peace depend — the 
birth-day of spiritual joy, hope, and immortality 
— the day from which salvation springs — the day in 
which the Christian's heaven has its roots — the day 
that ushers in the everlasting year of jubilee. And 
that day to us is now. This hour that you have 
listened to me is one of its hours. Even now the 
Savior stands before God in the Holy of holies with 
incense of supplications for us. What then ? Shall 
we shout, or shall we weep? Shall we rejoice or 
shall we tremble ? Some of you, perhaps, have 
entered upon this solemn day with hearts sportive 
and gay. While the Lamb of God was being exhibited 
dying and dead before you, you, perhaps, were laugh- 
ing. While Jehovah has been saying, "Afflict your 
souls," some have been reviling or carousing. While 
the Son of God lay lifeless and murdered for the 
sinner's sins, those meant to be brought to penitence 
26* u 



306 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

have been dancing and making merry. "While hell's 
fires were licking up his blood as the only atonement 
for human guilt, heaven has seen the scowl and heard 
the words of mockery on the lips of those for whom 
he died. Meanwhile the day is passing. The shadows 
of the evening are at hand. And what, oh sinner, 
if it should close, and leave thee with thy guilt 
unpardoned, and thy soul uncleansed ! 

23* 



SEVENTEENTH LECTUEE. 

LAWS FOR HOLY LIVING. 

LEV. CHAPTERS XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. 

I have not undertaken the exposition of this book 
of Leviticus with a view to explain and refine upon 
everything which it contains. Too much commen- 
tary is sometimes worse than none at all. In order, 
therefore, to prevent this series of discourses from 
extending to wearisome length, I will collect the 
remaining chapters into groups, and treat only of 
their general significance. There is, at any rate, 
much in them unsuited for public or family reading, 
and which cannot with propriety be made the subject 
of particular elucidation. 

The text for to-night will accordingly embrace four 
chapters; the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, 
and twentieth; as their various provisions may be 
very conveniently comprehended in one view. All 
the laws in these several chapters relate to what is 
more or less personal and private. We do not again 
meet with any public services until we come to the 
twenty-third chapter. Erom the sixteenth to the 
twenty-third, everything relates to the duties, quali- 
ties, and associations of individuals in private life. 
This fact, coming as it does right after the great 
day of atonement, is very suggestive. It indi- 
cates that God contemplates much more respecting 
us than the mere pardon of our sins ; that justifica- 

(307) 



808 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

tion is not the whole intent of the Savior's redemp- 
tive services ; and that there is to be a personal 
righteousness and purification which rests upon our 
own exertions. The atonement has been made; 
reconciliation has been effected; and to every one 
who has faith to believe it, all past sins are for ever 
borne away, to be seen and heard of no more. But 
this does not include everything. It does by no 
means embrace the whole object which Christ had 
in view, when he, " through the eternal Spirit, offered 
himself without spot to God." Having thus purged 
our consciences from dead works, it is that we may 
now go on "to serve the living God." Having by 
his awful bloodshedding procured us hope, it is that 
every man may purify himself as He is pure. Having 
" delivered us out of the hands of our enemies," he 
intends that we should " serve him without fear, in 
holiness and righteousness before him, all the days 
of our life." Having bought us with a price, it hence 
devolves upon us to glorify him in our bodies and 
our spirits which are his. 

There is a sense in which salvation is altogether 
of God — a matter of free bounty from him. Upon 
this point the words of the apostle are clear 
and conclusive. "By grace are ye saved, through 
faith, and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of 
God ; not of works, lest any man should boast. For 
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." 
I may illustrate this by the case of a vessel at sea, 
which has by some mismanagement anchored too 
near the shore, and which the receding tides have 
left aground in the deep mire. There lies the noble 
fabric, helpless, useless, and a wreck for ever. All 
the nautical skill and strength in the world cannot 






LAWS FOR HOLY LIVING. 309 

avail to save her. God must interpose and bring 
back tbe tides, or sbe must lie there and rot. This 
is a picture of the sad estate of man without Divine 
grace. He is aground in the deep morasses of sin. 
The tides have gone from him. He is nobly endowed 
and equipped ; but it all avails nothing for his deliv- 
erance. God must send out his power, or he will 
stay there to perish without hope. But, there has 
been a mighty pulsation in the ocean of Jehovah's 
love. We have seen the motion of it in the moving 
scenes of the day of atonement. It has raised a tide 
of mercy around the helpless sinner. Its majestic 
swell has lifted him up from the depths to which he 
had sunk. He is again made to feel the motion of 
the waters. He is once more erect upon the broad 
and even surface of the sea. He is saved from the 
terrible doom which impended over him. IsTow, to 
what would you ascribe the salvation of a ship in 
such circumstances ? to the men on board, or to the 
tides ? to the capacities and powers of the mariners, 
or to that God whose footsteps are in the sea, and 
his wonders in the great waters ? There can be no 
doubt as to your answer. It was God, in those 
benevolent laws of his which are everywhere at work. 
And in this sense, salvation is altogether of God. 
It is the flood-tide of Almighty grace, gathered 
around and under the grounded ship, and setting the 
sinner afloat when there was no other help. 

But, there is another sense in which salvation de- 
pends upon our own exertions. On this point, the 
same apostle is equally plain and positive. " Work 
out your own salvation" are his words. There is then 
something for us to do after all. Another apostle is 
still more specific. ""What doth it profit," says he, 



310 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

"though a man say he hath faith, and have not 
works ? Can faith save him ? . . . Faith, if it hath 
not works, is dead, being alone. . . . By works a 
man is justified, and not by faith only." The same 
figure will serve to illustrate this feature of our sal- 
vation. After the tides have come in and raised the 
grounded ship, and freed it from its helpless estate, 
then comes in the activity of those on board. If 
they do not weigh anchor, and spread the sails, and 
take hold of the helm, and exert themselves to get 
away from the spot, their case will be no better than 
if the tides had never come. So, as Christ has come 
and freed us from condemnation, and recovered to us 
our lost power, and reconciled us to God ; it is now 
for us to bestir ourselves to get away from the ugly 
spot, and to set sail for a voyage directly for the 
home-port of everlasting rest. The atonement is 
God's work; and we become participants of its bene- 
fits only by the abundant outflowing of his unsearch- 
able grace ; but now that the tide of his mercy has 
reached us, we are gratefully and obediently to take 
advantage of it, and go to work ourselves. The day 
of atonement must be followed with a good life, for 
which that atonement was meant to prepare us, or we 
sink again into the same hopeless condition in which 
we were before atonement came ; and with this aug- 
mentation of our wretchedness, that " there remain- 
eth no more sacrifice for sin." Saved by grace, and 
created anew in Christ Jesus, it is " unto good works, 
which God hath before ordained that we should walk 
in them." 

And when I speak of good works and a holy life, 
I do not mean a life of melancholy asceticism, or 
retirement from the common cares, activities, affec- 



LAWS FOR HOLY LIVING. 311 

tions and duties appertaining to our earthly estate. 
People are quite too much disposed to frame their 
ideas of sanctity from the cloister and the convent. 
Talk of holy men, and they at once begin to think 
of those who wear cowls, and tell beads, and keep 
solitary vigils, and devote themselves to an endless 
routine of prayers and fasts in monastic cells. But 
if they would ascertain God's idea of holiness, let 
them come to Jesus and learn of him. The true 
pattern of a holy life was set in that divine man, who 
pleased God without making the wilderness his 
home, or interposing iron grates and massive doors 
between himself and the common world — who found 
it no contamination to mingle with publicans and 
sinners, but served his heavenly Father as he walked 
the fields of Galilee, and frequented the villages of 
fishermen by the sea, and kept up communication 
with those who dwelt in Judah's towns and thronged 
Jerusalem's busy streets. " In him was life," and his 
" life is the light of men." "Without some degree of 
conformity to him, our religion is but a shadow and 
a name. For so it is written, " If any man have not 
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 

Let me invite attention, then, more specifically to 
the means and elements of a good and holy life, as 
they are shadowed forth in the chapters before us. 

I. The principal, and, perhaps, the only permanent 
provision contained in the seventeenth chapter, is 
that which respects the manner of treating blood. 
No matter how or from what animal it came, it was 
always to be looked upon with consideration. "While 
the Jews were in the wilderness, they were not per- 
mitted to slay an animal even for food, except at the 
door of the tabernacle, where its blood had to be 



812 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

taken by the priest and sprinkled upon the altar of 
the Lord. It was by no means to be devoted to 
heathen gods, or demons, to appease their anger. 
Neither was it at any time, or in any form, to be 
eaten. Even the hunter, in the excitement of the 
chase, if he succeeded in taking an animal, was re- 
quired to stop and drain out its blood, and then 
reverently cover up that blood with dust. There is 
also a reason assigned for all this. God says, " the 
life of the flesh is in the blood ; and I have given it 
to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your 
souls : for it is the blood that maketh atonement for 
the soul. Therefore no soul of you shall eat blood." 
The use of blood was not forbidden because it was 
unclean, but because it was sacred. It represents 
life. It is that by which life was redeemed. It is 
that, flowing about the altar, that reconciled between 
them and God. And for this reason they were to be 
particular about it, and reverence it. The simple 
fact that they were saved by blood in the sacrifices, 
was in their eyes to consecrate all blood; so that 
whenever they saw blood, they were to think how 
their own lives were forfeited by their transgressions, 
and how the blood of atonement sheltered them. 

Now, it is easy to see how a law of this sort would 
work to solemnize, restrain and soften the heart of a 
conscientious Jew. It would keep the solemn atone- 
ment before him whithersoever he went. The very 
huntsman would be met by it in the deep recesses of 
the forest. And if we desire to learn what consti- 
tutes the deepest essence of a good Christian life, we 
here have it most beautifully typified. "We must 
keep in view the blood of atonement. We must re- 
member Calvary — the sacrifice which there was 



LAWS FOR HOLY LIVING. 313 

made for us — the love which there was lavished upon 
our souls — the condemnation due to our sins which 
there was met. We must never lose sight of that 
bleeding Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of 
the world. All Christian goodness finds -its spring 
and fountain there. It is the lifting up of Christ 
that draws men from the ways of sin. It is the 
Savior's love that subdues the rebellious heart to 
obedience, and constrains it to apostolic devotion 
and martyr constancy. It is our clear and continual 
recognition of what Jesus has done for us, that 
weakens temptation, disposes to duty, and prompts 
to the deeds of righteousness. 

I remember to have met with an affecting little 
incident in Roman history connected with the death 
of Manlius Capitolinus, a renowned consul and 
general, who was once proudly hailed as the savior 
of Rome. It happened one night when the Gauls 
threatened to overwhelm the capitol, that he bravely 
took his stand upon the wall where they came on 
with their attack, and there fought singly and alone 
until he had repelled them, and so saved the city 
from destruction. It so occurred that this distin- 
guished man was afterwards accused of some great 
public fault, and put upon trial for his life. But 
just as the judges were about to pass sentence upon 
him, he looked up at the walls of the capitol, which 
towered in view, and with tears in his eyes pointed 
to where he had fought for his accusers, and periled 
his life for their safety. The people remembered 
the heroic achievement, and wept. No one had the 
heart to say aught against him, and the judges were 
compelled to forbear. Again he was tried, and with 
the same result. Nor could he be convicted until 
27 



314 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

his trial was removed to some low and distant point, 
from which the capitol was invisible. And so, while 
Calvary is in full view, in vain will earth and hell 
seek to bring the Christian into condemnation. One 
serious look at the cross, and at the love which there, 
unaided and alone, when all was dark and lost, in- 
terposed for our salvation, is enough to break the 
power of passion at once, and to strike dead every 
guilty proceeding. Low must the believer sink, and 
blotted from his heart must be the recollection of 
that scene of suffering for him, before he can ever 
become faithless to his Redeemer, or perfidious to 
his Savior's cause. There is a power in the bloody 
monument of redeeming love, which baffles all the 
allurements and accusations of hell. It is the great 
propelling motive to a holy life. It is the potent 
source of Christian loyalty and devotion. And if 
we would be virtuous and good, the first and grand 
requisite is, never to lose sight of Christ's atoning 
blood. 

II. Passing to the eighteenth chapter, we find sun- 
dry laws, but all bearing upon two general points. 
The first relates to the customs of the Egyptians, 
from among whom the Jews came, and of the Ca- 
naanites, whose land they were to inherit. God 
here says to them, " After the doings of the land of 
Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do : and after 
the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring 
you, shall ye not do ; neither shall ye walk in their 
ordinances." These were heathen and defiled na- 
tions. They are the types of all such people as are 
living in impenitence and sin. Israel was to be a 
holy nation, and therefore was not to follow the ways 
of the unclean. The greatest danger of a purified 



LAWS FOR HOLY LIVING. 315 

man, arises from his old habits and associations. It 
is not easy to turn a stream quite out of the channel 
in which it has been flowing for ages. It is a mighty 
work to revolutionize a character which has been 
forming for years, or to tear quite away from a long- 
continued routine which includes all our recollections 
of infancy, and in which our life took its chief 
attractions. It is like the leopard undertaking to 
change his spots, or the Ethiopian setting himself to 
whiten his dark skin. It cannot be done at all with- 
out the converting grace of G-od. And even after 
the divine finger has dispossest the unclean spirit, 
and swept and garnished the house, there is great 
danger of the return of that spirit with seven other 
spirits worse than himself. There is need that the 
doors of the soul be carefully watched and strongly 
barricaded against him. Even after Israel had 
crossed the sea in triumph, there rose up lusts after 
the flesh-pots of Egypt. The sow that has been 
washed, still has strong affections for the mire. 

The second grand element of a good Christian life, 
therefore, is, a complete and thorough reformation 
with regard to old habits. If we have been in close 
intimacy with the vile, we must withdraw from their 
communion, and keep aloof from their wicked ways. 
If we have been giving way to bad passions, we 
must cut ourselves off from the occasions of our 
transgressions, and beware of putting ourselves into 
circumstances which invite temptation. 

It is said of the elephant, that though he may be 
thoroughly subjugated and domesticated, if, in after 
years, his owners are so unfortunate as to bring him 
into the region where he was captured, the wild fire 
of his eye comes again, and he casts up his truck in 



316 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

the air as if to throw off all his bonds, and with a 
shout bounds away to his native wilderness in spite 
of all the efforts of his keeper to retain him. And 
just such an elephantine nature do we carry with us, 
that the mere neighborhood of old vices will some- 
times kindle it with ancient passion, so that despite 
all previous discipline and conviction, away it goes 
to the miserable haunts of its days of uncleanness. 
"We must guard against old customs, and keep away 
from associations in which we were once in the habit 
of transgressing. 

III. The other specifications of the eighteenth chap- 
ter, all relate to sexual purity. They typically refer 
to the necessity of a proper government of the affec- 
tions. We are very much the creatures of feeling. 
God has endowed our nature with many tender sus- 
ceptibilities, which impart a zest and warmth to life 
which it could not otherwise possess. He has also 
so constituted human society as to furnish abundant 
room for their healthful and happy play. ISTor does 
it enter at all into religion to deaden, eradicate, or 
stint our natural affections. The Scriptures con- 
stantly class those who are destitute of natural affec- 
tion, with the basest of mankind. It is only sin that 
acts as an astringent upon the warm feelings of our 
nature, and defiles, corrodes, shrivels and destroys 
them. It is one of the offices of piety to quicken 
the pulse of love, to soften our ruggedness, to ex- 
pand the heart, to sweeten the ties of tender regard, 
and to fill all the arteries of the social system with a 
bounding stream of warm and zealous interest and 
fondness. If Christianity had been sent to extin- 
guish social affections, it would be a blight instead 
of a blessing to the world. 



LAWS FOR HOLY LIVING. 317 

But whilst piety does not seal or freeze up the now 
of feeling, it rigidly requires that it be governed, 
modulated and controlled by principles of purity and 
righteousness. Like every other impulse or suscepti- 
bility, natural affection may be perverted and become 
the occasion of great sin and degradation. Our hearts 
must therefore be watched. We may love ; but we 
must love virtuously. We may cherish the most 
tender regards ; but they must not rest upon criminal 
hopes. Our warmest feelings may be enlisted and 
indulged ; but we must be cautious that they do not 
betray us into sin and shame. All affections have 
their proper objects, and to these they must be con- 
fined and kept in healthful moderation; otherwise 
they become fires of ruin. Hence the precept of the 
apostle, " Mortify your members which are upon the 
the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affec- 
tion, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is 
idolatry; for which things' sake the wrath of God 
eometh on the children of disobedience." Even the 
secret thought of unchasteness, the hidden inconti- 
nent wish, the impure desire, the cherished hope of 
unclean gratifications, must be spurned and crucified 
as criminal before God, and crushed as an enemy to 
the peace and good of society. The heart must be 
kept with all diligence ; for out of it are the issues 
of life. It is God who saith, "Defile not yourselves 
in any of these things." 

IV. "We come now to the nineteenth chapter. Here 
we have quite a list of moral precepts setting forth 
an extensive code of Christian righteousness. The 
provisions of the preceding chapter were negative ; 
these are mostly positive. In the one God shows us 
how we are to " cease to do evil;" in the other he 
27* 



318 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

instructs us how to " do well." I have not time to 
comment upon all these precepts at length. Indeed 
it is hardly necessary to do more than state them in 
a general review of the sort now in hand. We have 
seen that we as Christians are to keep in view the 
atonement of Christ, to guard against old habits and 
associations, and to purge and purify our affections. 
"We here have another general direction. And that 
is, to submit ourselves obediently to the moral law, 
of which this chapter is a sort of special and authori- 
tative exposition. 

We must be deferential to parents and authorities. 
God says, " Ye shall fear every man his mother and 
his father;" and of course all such as occupy corre- 
sponding relations to us. Disobedience in the family, 
is at the same time treason to the state, and rebellion 
against the sovereignty of heaven. Parental authority 
is part of God's grand scheme of government, and 
it is sin to disregard it. 

We must attend to the ordinances of worship. 
God says, " Ye shall every man keep my Sabbaths." 
As Paul expresses it, we are to be considerate, " not 
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the 
manner of some is ; but exhorting one another." To 
neglect God's rites of worship, is to neglect our souls, 
and to despise the most potent means of our sancti- 
n cation. 

We must worship God according to the simplicities 
of his own appointments. His word is, " Turn not," 
or rather, " look not unto idols (vanities), to make to 
yourselves molten gods." The idea is, that we are 
not to be captivated with the vain pomps or attractive 
elegances of heathen worship, to engraft them upon 
our worship of Jehovah. We must keep to what he 



LAWS FOR HOLY LIVING. 319 

has prescribed, and present and eat our peace-offer- 
ings as he has directed. 

We are to be kind to the poor, and appropriate of 
our abundance for their benefit. We are only the 
stewards of God in what we possess. Our harvests 
and our income are from his gracious hand. And 
he claims a portion of them for "the poor and 
stranger." 

We must be rigidly honest in our transactions with 
our fellow-men. G-od says, "Ye shall not steal, 
neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another; 
neither swear falsely by my name, nor profane the 
name of God. Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, 
neither rob him. The wages of him that is hired 
shall not abide with thee all night until morning." 
"Without obedience to these precepts there can be no 
social confidence ; and without mutual confidence 
this world would be worse than a Bedouin desert, and 
all its population Ishmaelites. Unless man can trust 
in his fellow-man, business stagnates, the machinery 
of the world stops, and social peace is at an end. 

We must pity the infirmities of the unfortunate, 
and not mock at or take advantage of their weak- 
nesses. God says, " Thou shalt not curse the deaf, 
nor put a stumbling-block before the blind." "Who 
hath made man's mouth ? or who maketh the dumb, 
or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind ? have not I the 
Lord?" To make sport with those who suffer thus, 
is therefore to mock at God, and to revile his holy 
administrations. He hath put such afflicted ones in 
our world to teach us sympathy and gratitude, and it 
is wicked to amuse ourselves with their privations. 

We must be just in our decisions, without predis- 
posing affection for the poor, or desire to secure the 



320 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

fawning flattery of the rich and great. The ancient 
heathen pictured the goddess of justice as blind, that 
she might not see what parties were awaiting her 
decisions. And so Jehovah says, " Thou shalt not 
respect the persons of the poor, nor honor the per- 
sons of the mighty ; but in righteousness shalt thou 
judge thy neighbor." 

We must put a bridle upon our tongues. God 
says, " Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale- 
bearer among thy people." It is the devil who is the 
accuser of the brethren. And I know of nothing 
more diabolical than the slander-monger. There are 
people 

Whose hearts are gall — whose tongues are fire — 
With souls too base for generous ire — 
With swords too keen for noble use — 
Whose shield and buckler are abuse. 

And many who are not habitually malicious, and do 
not mean to do mischief, yet are so fond of retailing 
ill news of their neighbor that one can seldom hear 
them talk without trembling for the reputation of 
his friends. There are some souls like certain birds 
which seem to live only on what is vile. It was such, 
I suppose, that James had in view, when he said, 
" The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity ; it setteth 
on fire the course of nature. . . It is an unruly evil, 
full of deadly poison." It needs taming beyond 
every other member. 

We must be charitable. God says, " Thou shalt 
not stand against the blood of thy neighbor. Thou 
shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart." 

And yet, we must not connive at sin. " Thou shalt 
in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin 



LAWS FOR HOLY LIVING. 321 

upon Mm." It is a charity to admonish him of his 
faults, that he may repent and be saved. But it must 
not be done in spite or malice. " Thou shalt not 
avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of 
thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
self." He is thy brother; and one God is the judge 
of us all. 

We must refrain from any attempt to join together 
incongruous things, or what God has put asunder. 
"We cannot serve God and Mammon. Heathen lewd- 
ness and worldly folly must not be permitted to 
mingle with Christian profession. There is a distinct- 
ness in holiness which must be preserved against all 
commixtures. 

We must not use power and station for sensual 
gratifications. It is high trespass against Almighty 
God. 

We must put a check upon appetite, and accustom 
ourselves to self-denial. Israel was not permitted to 
eat fruit from any tree until the fourth year after it 
began to bear. 

We must not trust to signs and omens, or resort 
to auguries and fortune-telling. " Thou shalt not use 
enchantment," saith the Lord. Jehovah, he is God; 
and on his good providence must we rely. 

We must be moderate in our griefs when bereave- 
ment comes. God says, "Ye shall not make any 
cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any 
marks upon you." Tears may flow ; for Jesus wept ; 
but w r e must not sorrow as those who have no hope. 
God reigneth. 

K"or are we to seek communication with the dead, 
or fellowship with those who pretend to bring us 
messages from the departed. God says, "Regard 



322 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after 
wizards, to be defiled by them." There always have 
been people who profess to commnnicate at will with 
beings of another world — to be inspired by demons 
— and to do wonders by compact with the devil or 
his angels. * Nor am I prepared to say that their pre- 
tence is false. But whether false or true, God's 
people are to have nothing to do with them. They 
can only defile. Jehovah says, " The soul that turn- 
eth after such as have familiar spirits, and after 
wizards, I will even set my face against that soul, 
and will cut him off from among his people." 

In addition to all this, we must be respectful to 
age, kind to strangers, honest in our weights and 
measures, and obedient to all God's statutes and 
judgments. So shall we be holy and good. And 
the Lord Jehovah shall be our God, and we shall be 
his people. 

A remark or two, now, upon the twentieth chapter, 
and I will close this discourse. 

We have been contemplating the laws of holy 
living. In this chapter we have God's threatenings 
against those who violate them. It is a chapter of 
penalties. God is not only our adviser, but our 
Lord and Judge. His commands are not only gra- 
cious counsels, but authoritative laws. They are not 
without penal sanctions. A law, from its very nature, 
must have penalties attached to it. God's command- 
ments are laws, and hence, he who will not obey 
them, but sets at naught the authority by which they 
are given, must meet a doom commensurate with his 
crime. Sinai still thunders and smokes against those 
who live in unrighteousness, notwithstanding the 
atonement-work of Christ. The axe is laid at the 



LAWS FOR HOLY LIVING. 323 

root of the tree, and if it bringeth not forth good 
fruit, it shall be hewn down, and given to the flames. 
The Gospel is indeeed glad tidings — glad tidings of 
great joy. It is a call of mercy from the heavens to 
the suffering and the lost. But, it is a call to holi- 
ness. And whilst it is a glorious savor of life unto 
life to them that yield to it, and walk in its light, it 
is a fearful savor of death unto death to those who 
despise or disobey it. I know of no responsibility so 
awful as that which the Gospel itself imposes. The 
Holy Ghost tells us, that we had better never known 
the way of righteousness, than after we have known 
it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered 
unto us. It opens to us a sublime heaven, and a safe 
and easy way of entering into it ; but at a cost so 
great, that the deepest hell is for him who despises 
and disobeys. The very grace that has brought sal- 
vation to man, must needs become a curse to deepen 
the perdition of those who refuse to accept and obey 
it. As to the disobedient Jew, God says, " I will set 
my face against that man, and will cut him off from 
among his people — he shall be put to death — his 
blood shall be upon him — he shall be burnt with 
fire." Did Jehovah mean what he said ? Literally 
were these penalties meant for the faithless son of 
Abraham; and typically are they meant for us. 
And if they seem terrific as they applied anciently to 
this world, still more terrific are they as a type of 
what is to come upon the faithless and impenitent 
hearer of the Gospel. What saith the Scripture? 
"Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, 
upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew 
first, and also of the Gentile." 

Brethren, God is merciful. His grace is unspeak- 



324 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

able. But he also is just, and must support the 
honor of his throne. Let men disguise it as they 
may, the day of atonement does not supersede the 
day of retribution. There is one question on this 
subject, put by the Spirit of God, that is enough to 
make the soul shudder. " He that despised Moses' 
law, died without mercy under two or three wit- 
nesses : of how much soever punishment, suppose ye, 
shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under 
foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of 
the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy 
thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace?" 
Brethren, there is terror enough predicted in this 
Bible to make one's hair lift. "When David looked 
in upon the portion of the wicked, he was appalled 
beyond measure, and cried, "Horror — horror hath 
taken hold upon me!" When that dauntless man 
of Tarsus, " who shook his chain in the face of kings 
— whose spirit no sufferings could subdue or dangers 
disconcert — who stood as unmoved amid a thousand 
perils as ever rock amid a thousand billows," sur- 
veyed the doom of the faithless, his hand trembled, 
and the big tears dropped from his manly cheeks, as 
he wrote down their end. Jeremiah seems overcome 
with emotion when thinking of the portion of the 
wicked. "0 that my head were waters," said he, 
" and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might 
weep day and night for the slain !" Ah, that lake — 
that lake ! Explain it as you please, it is awful to 
think of. That worm that never dies — those fires 
that are never quenched — that blackness of darkness 
for ever — refine upon the words as you will, there is 
something there which makes my heart ache, and 
my soul tremble. 



LAWS FOR HOLY LIVING. 325 

Brethren, the gates of salvation stand open to ns 
to-day. The arms of gracious heaven are stretched 
out to embrace us. The mansions of eternity are 
ready to receive us to them. The prayers of the 
great Intercessor have joined with his blood to secure 
for us a home in the New Jerusalem. The fruits of 
immortality are waving for us on the everlasting 
branches of the tree of life. But, between us and 
them Lies a path of good deeds and consecration to 
God. Jesus says, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep 
the commandments." And if we are not willing to 
obey, we must let go our hope. There is no other 
alternative. God be our helper ! Amen. 

28 



EIGHTEENTH LECTURE. 

PERSONAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE PRIESTS. 

LEV. CHAPTEKS XXI. XXII. 

In the chapters last under consideration, we had 
the laws for holy living, as they applied to the people 
generally. "We now enter upon a list of correspond- 
ing requirements relating specifically to the priests. 
God holds all public officers to a special accounta- 
bility. He looks with a jealous eye upon all who 
exercise authority, and particularly upon those who 
are called to minister at his altars. When he puts 
men in office, and entrusts them with administrations 
over their fellow-men, he lays his solemn demands 
upon them, and holds them with a tighter rein. Office 
and high station are mighty things. It is by them 
that the masses are moved and moulded. They are 
the fountains of social influence, the springs of public 
sentiment, the hands which fashion the destiny of 
society. They therefore impose awful responsibilities 
upon those who occupy them. 

The Jewish priest was an exalted officer. The 
high-priest especially held the highest position of 
any man upon earth. He occupied relations to God 
and man above all others. He was the centre of the 
whole Mosaic system. He was the grand impersona- 
tion of the Hebrew religion. It was through him 
the people came to God, and through him and his 
ministrations that God let forth his favors to the 

(326) 



PRIESTLY REQUIREMENTS. 327 

people. He was to be the interpreter of the divine 
will to the tribes of Israel, and to bear their offer- 
ings of gratitude and penitence to Jehovah. The 
whole religion of the nation leaned upon him. He 
was not a king ; yet he was more than a king. He 
was not a prophet ; bnt he was more than a prophet. 
He was Priest of the Most High God ; and in this 
respect he occupied an elevation above all his fellows. 
So conspicuous a personage, and so deeply identified 
with everything sacred, needed to be a man of special 
excellence, or religion itself would suffer from the 
deficiency. Neither could he typify Christ without 
the utmost personal perfection and social purity. 
God has therefore laid down the most rigid laws 
upon this subject. The Jewish priest was required 
to be in all respects a complete man, symmetrical in 
all his members, perfect in his humanity, not crooked, 
not maimed, not diseased. He that had any bodily 
blemish was not allowed to enter this office, or to 
touch anything relating to its functions. He had 
also to be entirely free from any suspicious social 
alliances. Even his wife had to be a particular kind 
of a woman, and also his daughter. Nothing about 
him, that could in any way be made a subject of 
reproach, was at all allowable. And even then, his 
office was to rise paramount to all social ties and 
sympathies. Under the severest domestic afflictions, 
he was always to remember that he was a priest, and 
not permit himself to be unfitted for the priest's 
duties by giving way to the promptings of grief. 
God said of all these things : " He shall not defile 
himself, being a chief among his people." He had 
to be blameless, a model man, a consecrated officer, 
who was to know nothing but his calling. 



328 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

Some have reasoned from this to the Christian 
ministry, and apply to the preacher what was laid 
down for the priest. If this were allowable in a 
literal sense, there could be no legitimate minister 
of Christ who is not of the tribe of Levi, and of 
the house of Aaron. ~No man could be a priest under 
these rules but a Jew of this particular stock. And 
to say that no one has a right to preach the Gospel 
but a Levite of the flesh, is more than Christians 
generally would undertake to do. And if one of 
these laws is inapplicable to the Gospel ministry, of 
course the others are also, except so far as founded 
upon other principles than the mere regulation of 
the Jewish priesthood. 

There is a sense, however, in which these ancient 
laws become suggestive of what is very important 
to a proper and successful ministry of the Gospel. 
Paul's portraiture of a bishop takes in many of the 
requirements which rested upon the old priesthood. 
"A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one 
wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to 
hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, 
not greedy of filthy lucre ; but patient; not a brawler; 
not covetous ; one that ruleth well his own house, 
having his children in subjection with all gravity; 
not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall 
into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he 
must have a good report of them which are without." 
(1 Tim. 3 : 2-7.) 

It is a truth, my brethren, which ought ever to be 
before the minds of those who minister in holy 
things, and deeply graven upon their hearts, that 
righteousness of life, and consistency in private con- 
duct, is the most vital element of a preacher's power. 



PRIESTLY REQUIREMENTS. 329 

Let his ordination, his talents, his attainments, his 
eloquence, be what they may, without a life corre- 
sponding to his teachings, he is only " as sounding 
brass, or a tinkling cymbal." Actions speak louder 
than words. Character is more eloquent than rhe- 
toric. What a man is] always has more weight than 
what he says. And to preach Christ, and act anti- 
christ; or to give people good instruction, coupled 
with a bad example, is but beckoning to them with 
the head to show them the way to heaven, while we 
take them by the hand to lead them in the way to 
hell. If a man's character contradicts his teaching, 
people may admire his learning and his fluency, but 
he will have no power over their consciences and 
hearts. His badness by no means exempts them 
from receiving and obeying the truth ; but they will 
ever be finding apology in his inconsistencies for 
despising his pious counsels. Human nature is at 
any rate disinclined to be schooled. Self-love is 
wounded at the idea of submitting to receive instruc- 
tion and warning as if from one wiser and better 
than ourselves. And when one comes to us in this 
high office, and reproves our wickedness, we are 
tempted to avenge ourselves by carping, either at 
the doctrine or the teacher. He at once becomes an 
object of our unamiable scrutiny. We want to know 
who made him a judge over us, and what better he 
is than those whom he has undertaken to rebuke 
and correct. And if so fair a mark for censure be 
himself in darkness while undertaking to guide the 
blind, there is. something in us which grows indig- 
nant, and turns upon him with a resentment against 
which all his learning and eloquence are powerless. 
"Physician, heal thyself;" is the sentiment that 
28* 



330 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

rises in our hearts, and breaks the force of all his 
good words. An unholy, unprincipled preacher, must 
ever be an object of unmitigated contempt. He will 
be hissed and reprobated to his very grave. And it 
is right that he should be. G-od has made it the 
first business of him who is a leader in holy things, 
to see to it that he himself has submitted to the 
Gospel which he asks others to obey. Not only the 
lynx eyes and argus eyes of unconverted men are 
upon him, to search and sift him, to magnify his 
deficiencies, drag forward his defects, and thus break 
his influence ; but the all-seeing eye of Jehovah is 
upon him, and the hand of a heavenly Master holds 
him over to the solemn judgment, to act according 
to what he preaches. Like the high-priest, he is 
" chief man among his people," and all their inte- 
rests, as well as his own, demand that he should 
" walk as becometh the Gospel." And if withal he 
is inconsistent, dishonest, trifling, and faithless, it 
is but just that the condemnation of heaven and 
earth should be upon him. "A bishop must be 
blameless." 

And in the same proportion that an unholy life 
weakens a minister's influence, does uprightness, 
fidelity, and consistency, enhance it. A truly honest 
and good man, whatever his sphere, will always have 
weight. However people may revile his profession, 
they always feel rebuked in his presence, and pay 
homage to him in their secret souls. There is might 
in virtue. It tells upon a man in spite of him. It 
strikes at once into the heart and conscience. It is 
more powerful than eloquence. It is the most 
effective armor that man can wear. And when a 
minister has a pure and spotless life to sustain his 



PRIESTLY REQUIREMENTS. 331 

profession, he becomes a host in strength. His silence 
is a sermon, and his words are sharp in the hearts of 
his enemies. We have an illustration of this in the 
case of Jesus. Whatever elements of character and 
wisdom concurred to give weight to his teachings, 
there was nothing more effectual than his immaculate 
goodness and fidelity to the truth. The very men who 
were sent to seize him, when they heard him, fell 
back in terror, saying, "Never man spake like this 
man." The highest authorities of Judea stood in 
awe of that meek and guileless Nazarene. A saintly 
preacher is an awful being. The stoutest hearts bend 
before him. He carries an influence which none else 
can wield. At his voice, the conqueror has been 
known to stay his steps, the monarch to hide his 
paled face, the judge to tremble on his seat. And 
if all Christ's ministers were examples of the religion 
they preach, there is nothing in this world that could 
withstand them. The potencies of hell would melt 
out of the earth like snow before the sun. Above all 
things, therefore, does it become a minister to be a 
pattern of his teachings, and a living record of the 
Gospel which he utters. Jehovah says of his priests, 
" They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane 
the name of their God." "He that ruleth among 
men must be just, ruling in the fear of the Lord." 

But, the law prescribes for the domestic relations 
and social surroundings of the priest, as well as for 
his personal perfections. Upon this point also it be- 
comes a minister to be particular. It would seem 
like scandal for me to speak freely of the miserable 
and disabling fetters into which many ministers of 
God have inconsiderately put themselves in these 
respects. Alas, how has the cause of the blessed 



332 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

Jesus suffered from the unfortunate alliances of those 
who have been solemnly ordained to go forth as the 
preachers of his Gospel ! How has Satan hedged up 
the way and crippled the energies and usefulness of 
good men, by the entanglements which he has thrown 
around them in life ! How many eloquent tongues 
has he thus put to silence ! What noble ministerial 
gifts has he thus rendered of no account ! What 
glorious achievements for God and for his Christ has 
he thus prevented ! How many a prince among the 
virtuous and good has he thus induced to curse God 
and die ! Who shall write the secret history of the 
clogs which he has thus succeeded in fastening to 
the wheels of the chariot of salvation ! " Tell it not 
in Gath ; publish it not in the streets of Askelon ; 
lest the Philistines rejoice, and the daughters of the 
uncircumscribed triumph." Though the angels have 
wept over it, let it be for eternity to reveal. With 
all its sadness, the history of the celibate is worse. 
There is a good side as well as a bad. 

But these laws concerning the priests were not 
given to show us what Christian ministers are to be. 
The Christian Church has suffered not a little by 
what has been imported into it from Levi and Aaron. 
It was a sad day for Christianity when the tiara of 
the Jewish priest was transferred to the brow of a 
Christian bishop. Aaron was meant to be a type of 
Christ himself. What was required of him was most 
of all intended to shadow forth the qualities, and 
character, and office of that great High-priest that 
has passed into the heavens, and through whose 
sublime mediation alone any man can come unto 
God. In this aspect then let us consider it. 

I. The ancient priest was required to be physically 



PRIESTLY REQUIREMENTS. 333 

perfect. Otherwise lie could not be a fit representa- 
tive of that perfect humanity which was found in our 
Savior. Upon this point Bonar has expressed the 
truth with much force and beauty. If the priest were 
" blind," then the people would be led to misappre- 
hend the type; he could not represent Him whose 
" eyes are as a flame of fire." If the priest were 
" lame," he could not represent Him whose " legs are 
as pillars of marble." If " mutilated in the nose," 
he could not be the type of Him whose " countenance 
is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars." If " super- 
fluous in any limb," shorter in one than in the other, 
he could not set forth Him who " cometh leaping on 
the mountains as a roe and young hart." If " bro- 
ken-footed," he was unlike Him whose feet are as 
"sockets of fine gold," bearing "pillars of marble." 
If he were "broken-handed," he could not be a'pic- 
ture of Him whose " hands are as gold rings set with 
beryl," and of whom it is written, " not a bone of 
him shall be broken." If the priest were "crook- 
backed," then would he have represented the High- 
priest of the Church as inferior to the Church her- 
self, "whose stature is like the palm-tree." If "a 
dwarf," he would ill suit as a type of Him who is 
"the chiefest among ten thousand." If in his eye 
were any "blemish," no one could have seen in him 
the picture of the Beloved whose " eyes are as doves 
by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly 
set." If "diseased in his skin," he could not be a 
type of Him "who is all fair," having "no spot or 
wrinkle." And if deficient in any particular of mas- 
culine perfection, he could not be the representative. 
of Him whose Church, made like to himself, is " all 
glorious." He was therefore required to be without 



334 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

bodily blemish, that Israel might know what sort of 
a Priest Messiah to expect. Their eyes were to be 
directed to Jesus as one " altogether lovely." 

II. The ancient priest was required to be properly 
and purely mated. As a type of Christ in all other 
respects, so was he also in his espousals. The Lamb 
is not alone. He has his affianced Bride — his holy 
Church. He hath chosen her as a chaste virgin — as 
one whom " the daughters saw and blessed." Not a 
divorced woman — not a vile offender — not an un- 
clean thing — is the Church of Jesus. What saith 
the glorious Bridegroom concerning his Spouse ? 
" ISTow when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, 
behold, thy time was the time of love ; and I spread 
my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness ; yea, 
I sware unto thee, and entered into covenant with 
thee, and thou becamest mine. Then washed I thee 
with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy 
blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I 
clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee 
with badger's skin, and I girded thee about with fine 
linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee 
also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thine 
hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel 
on thy forehead, and ear-rings in thine ears, and a 
beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou 
decked with gold and silver ; and thy raiment was 
fine linen, and silk, and broidered work ; thou didst 
eat fine flour, and honey, and oil ; thou wast exceed- 
ing beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a king- 
dom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen 
for thy beauty : for it was perfect through my come- 
liness, which I had put upon thee." Thus "■ Christ 
loved the Church, and gave himself for it ; that he 



PRIESTLY REQUIREMENTS. 335 

might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of 
water by the word, that he might present it to him- 
self a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, 
or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and 
without blemish." And the priest's wife had to be 
pure to typify these pure espousals of the Lamb, and 
the excellencies of that Church which he has chosen 
for his everlasting Bride. 

III. It was required of the ancient priest that his 
children should be pure. The transgression of his 
daughter degraded him from his place. It is one of 
the demands laid upon Christian pastors to have 
" faithful children that are not accused of riot, nor 
unruly." The reason is obvious. A minister's family, 
as well as himself, is made conspicuous by the very 
nature of his office. Their misdeeds are specially 
noticed by the world, and readily laid to his charge. 
Any unholiness in them operates as a profanation of 
his name. It is so much taken from his power. The 
Holy Ghost therefore calls upon him to "rule well 
his own house, having his children in subjection." 
But the law was typical. It relates to Christ and his 
Church. It points to the fact, that everything pro- 
ceeding from his union with his people is good and 
pure. The Savior's marriage with the congregation 
of believers, is a fountain of virgin excellencies. 
From this proceeds the highest virtue, peace on earth, 
and fitness for heaven. From this have come the 
sublimest adornments of human society, the loveliest 
graces, the sweetest affections, the noblest impulses,, 
the sunniest enjoyments, the chastest moral attrac- 
tions, that have ever appeared in our world. No 
grapes of Sodom, no bitter clusters grow upon this 
vine. No lures to ruin are found within its bosom. 



336 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

But everything which originates there is like the 
priest's daughter, pure, lovely, of good report, and 
full of praise. 

There is often much in the character and conduct 
of professing Christian people, which is neither 
lovely nor commendable. There is much that pre- 
tends to come from fidelity to Jesus, which we can 
neither approve nor admire. Eut it is not the product 
of true Christianity. It is the fruit of man's own de- 
pravity and narrowness. It has not come from Christ. 
£To man can convict the Gospel of fostering or coun- 
tenancing anything wrong, or subversive of the 
peace, good, and excellence of society. It is a spring 
of unmingled blessing. All who partake of its life 
are necessarily chaste virgins to the Lord. 

IV. There are other requirements which were made 
of the ancient priests, both in the twenty-first and 
twenty-second chapters, which I will sum up under 
the general name of Jioliness. They were not to defile 
themselves with the dead, or by eating improper 
food, or by contact with the unclean, or by irreve- 
rence towards the holy things. They were to be very 
particular about all the laws, and to devote them- 
selves to their office as men anointed of God. In one 
word, they were to be holy ; that is, whole, entire, 
complete, fully separated from all forbidden, and 
fully consecrated to what was commanded. This was 
necessary for personal and official reasons ; but espe- 
cially for the high-priest as a type of Christ. It was 
a requirement to shadow forth the character of Jesus, 
and the sublime wholeness and consecration which 
were in him. 

It is remarkable how much there is in this ritual 
pointing to this very particular. Next to the fact of 



PRIESTLY REQUIREMENTS. 337 

atonement, it is perhaps the most prominent subject 
in the whole system. It is brought forward in nearly 
every chapter, and reappears in nearly every pro 
vision. The reason is obvious. Nothing in the 
whole mediatorship of Christ enters so largely into 
it as his personal holiness. He had to be perfectly 
pure, in order to be acceptable to God ; and the same 
unexampled excellence was necessary to attract the 
attention and command the confidence of men. 
Much is therefore said bearing upon this particular. 
And just as the ancient types foreshadowed, and as 
the nature of the case demanded, Christ was a being 
of transcendant holiness. All the qualities of good- 
ness and magnanimous righteousness were combined 
in him. The moral significance of his life is one of 
the most impressive of themes. The wisest and 
best men have been searching and expounding 
it for the last eighteen hundred years, and yet it 
remains unexplored. Ages of study and eloquence 
have not brought to light all the truth, good, and 
beauty hidden in that man of Nazareth. There 
are depths there which no man has fathomed, and 
glories of goodness to which no human mind can 
discover the limits. Contemplate him in any aspect 
in any of the trying scenes of his life, and he still 
comes before us the same miraculous being, " holy, 
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made 
higher than the heavens." 

We are not generally moved by the character of 
Christ, as we ought to be. We are so familiar with 
its exterior facts, that we pass it without due atten- 
tion, and without understanding it. Familiarity and 
much handling of truths sometimes soils them to our 
perceptions. What is before us every day is apt to 
29 w 



338 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

lose its meaning and its charms. A glorious creation 
is this by which we are surrounded, but it is so con- 
tinually before us that we think but little of it, and 
are more moved by a show of fire-works than by the 
blaze of the all-enlightening sun rolling his golden 
chariot through the immense of heaven. "We need 
to have some poetic thrill, some special prompter, to 
enable us to see in what a world of beauty and magni- 
ficence we live. And so it is with regard to the charac- 
ter of our Savior. "We have a vague impression of its 
general goodness, but we do not intelligently realize it. 
As a distinguished divine has remarked, " Men be- 
come used to it, until they imagine that there is 
something more admirable in a great man of their 
own day, a statesman or a conqueror, than in Him, 
the latch et of whose shoes statesmen and conquerors 
are not worthy to unloose." 

But, blinded to the truth, as many may be, the 
character of Jesus for holiness and sublime conse- 
cration, stands alone upon the records of time. It 
has no analogy in nature, no archetype in history. 
There is nothing like it. It has no parallel in 
heaven above, or in the earth beneath. It is the 
sublimest of all the miracles of God, the most won- 
derful of all his displays to man. All other miracles 
have been reviled, but this cannot be. Men have de- 
spised and desecrated the sanctity of everything else 
related to religion ; but when they came to the char- 
acter of Jesus, their hands grew powerless, their 
hearts failed, their utterance choked, and they turned 
aside in reverent awe of a goodness and majesty 
which could not be gainsayed. Infidelity itself has 
freely and eloquently confessed to his matchless ex- 
cellence. Paine disavows "the most distant disre- 



PRIESTLY REQUIREMENTS. 839 

spect to the moral character of Jesus Christ." The 
French atheist Leguinia agrees that " He who called 
himself the Son of God, always displayed virtue — 
always spoke according to the dictates of reason — 
always preached up wisdom — sincerely loved all 
men, wishing good even to his persecutors — developed 
all the principles of moral equality and the purest 
patriotism — met danger undismayed — described the 
hard-heartedness of the rich — attacked the pride of 
kings — dared to resist even in the face of tyrants — 
despised pomp and fortune — was sober — solaced the 
indigent — taught the unfortunate how to suffer — 
sustained weakness — fortified decay — consoled mis- 
fortune — shed tears with those who wept — and taught 
men to subjugate their passions, to think, to reflect, 
to love one another, and live in peace." Rousseau 
is struck with admiration at his excellency. " "What 
sweetness, what purity in his manner ! What an 
affecting gracefulness in his delivery! What sub- 
limity in his maxims ! What profound wisdom in 
his discourses ! What presence of mind, what sub- 
tlety, what truth in his replies ! How great the com- 
mand of his passions ! Where is the man, where the 
philosopher, who could so live, and so die, without 
weakness and without ostentation ? . . . Yea, if Soc- 
rates lived and died like a sage, Jesus lived and died 
like a God." These are the testimonies of men who 
refused to receive him as their Savior. Nor is there 
anything in all the records of unbelief, ancient or 
modern, Jewish or heathen, to affix the least stain 
upon his spotless life. Those who knew him best, 
testify with one voice to his unexampled excellence. 
Peter says he did no sin, that guile was never found 
in his mouth, that he was without spot, and that his 



340 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

life was spent in doing good. John says, "in him 
was no sin." The timid judge who gave him up to 
be crucified solemnly washed his hands before the 
crowd, saying, "I find no fault in this man." Judas 
who betrayed him confessed himself guilty of inno- 
cent blood. The heathen captain who presided at 
his crucifixion, said, " surely this was the Son of 
God." The truth is, the world has never contained 
another instance of piety so sincere, of philanthropy 
so pure, of liberality so magnanimous, of love so 
true, of candor so unfaltering, of sympathy so tender, 
of teachings so faithful, of mercy so condescending, 
of endurance so patient, of power so gracious, of 
prudence so wise, of devotion so self-sacrificing, of 
integrity so perfect, of wronged innocence so meek, 
of zeal so free from bigotry, of such mighty good- 
ness without one single taint. Yes, those little Gospel 
incidents which we are so prone to pass over as in- 
sipid, are the sublimest records of earth. They tell 
us more than is to be found in all the histories of the 
greatest or best of other men. Jesus taking little 
children in his arms, is a more wonderful picture 
than Alexander's conquest of the world. The Son 
of God stopping the funeral procession at Nain, or 
halting to answer the cries of Bartimeus at Jericho, or 
standing in tears at the grave of Lazarus, is a mightier 
fact than the discovery of a new continent. His one 
prayer on the cross, " Father, forgive them,'" is worth 
more to the human family than have been all the 
kings, from Nimrod until now. These humble records 
of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, outweigh in 
value all other books that ever were written. Worlds 
could not compensate for the loss of them. Strike 
them out, and you tear from the earth its sublimest 



PRIESTLY REQUIREMENTS. 341 

history, and rob humanity of the sublimest displays 
of majesty and .goodness that were ever made in 
mortal flesh. Earth knows not another character 
so precious or so indispensable as that which they 
present in the case of that humble man of Naza- 
reth. 

Brethren, what would man be without Christ — 
without his holy life ? In him, and in him alone, 
earth rises into communion with heaven, and light 
shines in upon our benighted humanity. " In him 
was life." Life in him received its true expression, 
and its real explanation. In him human existence 
rose up to its true nobility and proper achieve- 
ments. Everything appertaining to a right use and 
the right meaning of life, was summed up and set 
forth in him. " In him was life, and the life (that 
is, his specific life) was the light of men." There 
mankind must learn, if they ever learn, the secret 
life of life. Man must either be reduced to a perish- 
ing thing of dust, and his soul be trampled beneath 
the material senses, and his existence and condition 
remain a riddle for ever, or Jesus must be hailed as 
the head of the race — the door of opening between 
light and darkness — the bond of connection between 
us and God. We need him. We need his life. 
We need him in all his attributes of goodness and 
offices of love. We need him as the exponent of 
God ; and we need him as much as the exponent of 
man. We need his instructions ; but still more his 
personal exemplifications of them. We need him 
as a great Prophet sent from God ; but still more as 
a companion, such as this world cannot furnish, to 
rebuke our sins, to encourage our faith, to quicken 
29* 



342 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

our virtue, to alleviate our sorrows, to smooth our 
dying pillows, and to pilot us to the haven of ever- 
lasting rest. And the sublimest of all his wonderful 
adaptations to our wants the apostle finds in this, 
that he was " holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate 
from sinners." " Such a High-priest," says he, "be- 
came us." 

Y. There is yet one particular in the requirements 
concerning the ancient priests, to which I will refer. 
It is said of the high-priest, "he shall not uncover 
his head, nor rend his clothes, nor go in to any dead 
body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his 
mother ; neither shall he go out of the sanctuary (in 
consequence of domestic bereavements) ; for the 
crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him." 
That is to say, he was not to allow any natural sym- 
pathies to interfere with the pure and proper dis- 
charge of the duties of his high office. Some have 
regarded this as a coldness and harshness thrown 
around the old priesthood, which has nothing to cor- 
respond to it in the Christian system. I do not so 
understand it. The very reverse is the truth. The 
high-priest was a great religious officer for the entire 
Jewish nation. He belonged more to the nation 
than to his family or himself. It would therefore 
have been a most heartless thing to allow a little 
natural domestic sympathy and affection to set aside 
all the great interests of the Hebrew people. So far 
from throwing a chilliness around the high-priest- 
hood, it gave to it a warmth and zeal of devotion, 
and showed an outbreathing of heart upon the spi- 
ritual wants of the congregation, superior to the love 
of father or mother. And it was meant to shadow 



PRIESTLY REQUIREMENTS. 343 

forth a precious truth ; viz. that Christ, as our High- 
priest, concentrated all his highest, warmest and 
fullest sympathies in his office. He loved father and 
mother, and was properly obedient to them ; but 
when it came to the great duties of his mission, 
the interests of a perishing world were resting upon 
his doings, and he could not stop to gratify domestic 
sympathies. Rising then above the narrow circle of 
carnal relationships, "he stretched forth his hand 
toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother 
and my brethren !" His sympathies are those of the 
spirit, and not of the flesh. His parents may be in 
great anxiety about him ; but his sublime response 
is, "I must be about my Father's business." His 
mother may attempt to control his movements ; but 
he declines compliance, saying, " Woman, mine 
hour is not yet come." Everywhere did he subordi- 
nate mere natural affections to those higher sym- 
pathies for a world perishing in sin, for which he 
gave himself, and died, and now intercedes in 
heaven. Dearer to him are the souls of men, than 
the bodies of earthly relatives. He is not without 
sympathy and the fondest tenderness, but it follows 
the leadings of a higher, wider, sublimer relationship 
than that of mere flesh and blood. He has a warm 
and brotherly heart ; but it is most of all for them 
that seek to imitate him, and obey God. " Whoso- 
ever shall do the will of my Father which is in 
heaven," says he, "the same is my brother, and 
sister, and mother." On such his heart is set. To 
them his affections flow deep and mighty as the 
infinitude of his nature. " We have not an High- 
priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of 



344 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

our infirmities.'' He hath given himself to us. He 
knows our wants. His great spirit yearns for us. 
As a father pitieth his children, so he pitieth them 
that fear him. A mother may forget, but he will 
not 

His heart is made of tenderness 
His soul o'erflows with love ! 



IITIE'ETEEK'TH LECTURE. 

THE HOLY FESTIVALS. 

LEV. CHAP. XXIII. 

This chapter treats of times and seasons — of sacred 
days, festivals, and solemn convocations — such as 
the Sabbath, the Passover, the feast of Pentecost, 
the feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and 
the feast of Tabernacles. These solemnities were 
not all now first instituted, but are here brought 
together under one view, that their relations to each 
other, and their general significance, might be the 
more clearly perceived. 

There are three general aspects in which these 
remarkable festivals may be considered. They had 
important relations to the peace and prosperity of 
the Jews as a nation ; they embodied a great religious 
idea ; and they presented a chronological prefigura- 
tion of the great facts of our redemption. "Without 
undertaking at all to exhaust the subject, I have 
something to say of it in each of these relations. 
May the Lord direct us in our meditations ! 

I. Commentators generally, on this part of Hebrew 
Law, have remarked upon the social, political, and 
commercial benefits resulting to the Jewish people 
from these national festivals and convocations. 

They served to unite the nation, cemented them 
together as one people, and prevented the tendency 
to the formation of separate cliques and conflicting 

(345) 



346 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

clans or states. Three times a-year did these feasts 
bring vast multitudes together from all sections of 
the country to meet each other on a common religious 
ground, requiring of them the acknowledgment of 
descent from a common father, of consecration to 
the same God, of heirship to the same promises, and 
of subjection to the same theocratic system. Persons 
of different tribes and distant localities thus met on 
terms of brotherhood and fellowship, fostering old 
and creating ever new relationships, and familiar- 
izing all with each other. They were thus strength- 
ened in unity of faith and interest against internal 
ruptures, division, and idolatry. 

If hostility had sprung up between any of the 
tribes, the occurrence of these holy assemblies re- 
quired of them to lay down their arms, and come 
together as brethren around the same altar of their 
common God, to offer the same sacrifices, sing the 
same grand songs, and bow down with each other 
before the same almighty Jehovah. It was impossible 
for a people to obey such regulations and become 
disunited. The actual split of the ten tribes from 
Judah, under Eehoboam and Jeroboam, could and 
did not become very serious until they set aside that 
part of the law relating to these national festivals. 

These convocations also had great effect upon the 
internal commerce of the Hebrew people. They 
furnished facilities for mutual exchanges, and opened 
the ways of trade and business between the various 
sections. Such festivals have always been attended 
with this effect. The famous old fair near Hebron, 
arose from the congregating of pilgrims to the tere- 
binth tree of Abraham. The yearly fairs of the 
Germans are said to have had a similar origin. And 



THE HOLY FESTIVALS. 347 

so the annual pilgrimage of the Mohammedans to 
Mecca, in spite of many adverse circumstances, has 
given birth to one of the greatest markets in the 
eastern world. And thus, perhaps, more of the 
wealth of the Jews, and of the greatness and glory 
of Jerusalem, is to be traced to the simple laws of 
this one chapter, than to all the wisdom and power 
of either or all their kings. 

"We can thus perceive a wisdom and sagacity in 
these laws, even apart from their religious and typical 
significance, which every thoughtful man must be 
surprised to find among a race of semi-barbarbous 
people, nomadic in their habits, and the immediate 
descendants of slaves. Such political foresight, under 
such circumstances, can, with no show of reason, be 
referred to the mere ingenuity of man. Such mas- 
terly arrangements, so many-sided, and on all so 
complete and admirable, originating with such a 
people, must have come from a wisdom higher than 
earth — from a hand more skilful than the hand of 
mortal. These laws everywhere bear the impress 
of a divine original; and he who disputes it, calls 
upon us to exercise a credulity much greater than 
is agreeable to sober reason. Skepticism may vaunt 
and boast as it pleases, but it embraces more ab- 
surdities than it has ever imputed to the faith of 
believers. And before the infidel undertakes, on 
that score, to extract the mote from the Christian's 
eye, it would be well for him first to remove the 
beam from his own. " Physician, heal thyself," is 
about answer enough to all the arguments and ridi- 
cule of unbelief and atheism. 

II. But there was also a direct religious value and 
forethought in the appointment of these festivals. 



348 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

They prescribed public consociation in worship. Man 
is a worshipping being. It is not only his duty, but 
his nature and native instinct to worship. His very 
position in the universe, as a creature, dependent, 
needy, and the recipient of so much good, calls for 
it. Hence, the best and the great majority of men, 
in all ages, have given their sanction and example 
to it. Even before 

man learned 
To hew the shaft, or lay the architrave, 
And spread the roof above them — ere he framed 
The lofty vault, to gather and roll back 
The sound of anthems ; in the darkling wood, 
Amidst the cool and silence, he knelt down, 
And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks 
And supplications. 

But mere isolated worship, without association in 
common set services, soon dwindles, flags, degene- 
rates, and corrupts. Neither does it ever reach that 
majesty and intense inspiration which comes from 
open congregation in the same great acts of devotion. 
"As iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the 
countenance of his friend." And just as the multi- 
tude of these mutual sharpeners is increased, will 
their common devotion be deepened and augmented. 
There is sublimity in numbers. There is something 
in a great congregation to impress, move, and invigo- 
rate. And when it pulsates with one thought, one 
feeling, one aim, and that in the direction of the 
infinite and divine, the impulse is like that of the 
gathered strength of the waves of the sea, profound, 
majestic, overwhelming. I know of nothing earthly 
that is more beautiful, more impressive, more sooth- 
ing to the inmost soul, and more kindly in its effects, 



THE HOLY FESTIVALS. 349 

than a devout assembly, convened for the worship 
of their common God and Father. The mere con- 
gregation of such a number of precious souls, filled 
with holy reverence, their differences all forgotten, 
the hearts of all classes mingled into one, and all 
their diversities of station and office melted away 
before the majesty of the Maker of them all, causes 
a heavenly awe to steal upon the spirit, and a kind- 
liness to distil upon the soul, which far exceeds all 
that such services ever cost. It is like a great home 
gathering of children to receive the benedictions of 
a gracious Father. It is a drawing together by holy 
ties to a board where Deity ministers most percepti- 
bly to man. The Spirit of the Almighty One is 
there. He who died on Calvary walks unseen among 
the waiting ones, and lays his hand upon the heads 
of the contrite, and whispers quiet consolation to 
them that mourn. Loving angels move there with 
hearts full of sympathy for their young brethren in 
the flesh. Burning thoughts and holy aspirations 
take wings there, and soar in poetic numbers and 
blending sounds of linked sweetness to mingle with 
the songs of seraphim. Truth there sends forth its 
rays right from its everlasting Source to warm, and 
melt, and cheer, and animate, and bless. Earth there 
rises into neighborhood and fellowship with heaven. 
And in the deep, still intervals of those solemn trans- 
actions, the mellowed soul may feel the soft and 
gentle beatings of the pulse of immortality. Even 
the silent atmosphere seems to whisper — "God is 
here." And who, indeed, has ever seen or felt any- 
thing of the hallowing inspirations of these sacred 
assemblies, but is ready to exclaim with Israel's royal 
bard — "How amiable are thy tabernacles, Lord of 
30 



350 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS 






hosts /" The highest hopes of the world linger about 
our sanctuaries. Heaven looks to them as its grammar 
schools. They are the inlets of grace and salvation 
to the soul. Yea, to close them, would well nigh 
"shut the gates of mercy on mankind." 

For the .sake of religion, therefore, as well as for 
politics and commerce, it was a wise and benignant 
arrangement which called the tribes of Israel together 
three times a year in sublime congregation, to ac- 
knowledge their common Lord, to wait before him 
in the services of his temple, and to adore, praise 
and worship him who made them. From those festi- 
vals there went forth a religious life, which was felt 
to the utmost extremities of the land, and which 
made the great Lord love the gates of Zion more 
than all the dwellings of Jacob. 

III. But I propose to speak more particularly of 
the typical relations of these holy feasts and seasons. 
They have an interest and value far above that of 
their immediate uses and effects. They were pro- 
phecies and portraitures of good things to come. 
"We have in them a system of types, chronologically 
arranged, to set forth the true Course of Time — to 
prefigure the whole history of redemption, in its 
leading outlines, from the commencement to the 
close. In this light, then, let us briefly review them. 

The first in the list of these holy convocations was 
the Passover. This was a sacramental observance, 
first instituted in Egypt, and first kept on that dread- 
ful night when the destroying angel went through 
the land slaying the first-born of every house which 
had not been sprinkled with the blood of the slain 
lamb. It was a sort of perpetual commemoration 
of their deliverance from the oppressor and from 



THE HOLY FESTIVALS. 351 

death. — a standing testimonial that their salvation 
was by the blood of the Lamb. It was the key-note 
of the Christian system sounding in the dim depths 
of remote antiquity. That bondage in Egypt referred 
to a still deeper and more degrading slavery of the 
spirit. That redemption was the foreshadow of a 
far greater deliverance. And that slain lamb and its 
sprinkled blood, pointed to a meeker, purer, and 
higher victim, whose body was broken and blood 
shed for us and for many for the remission of sins. 
It was only another form of setting forth " Christ 
and him crucified." It was the clear prefiguration 
of " Christ our passover sacrificed for us." As God 
found Israel in bondage, so he finds all men in the 
slavery and degradation of sin. As he begun Israel's 
redemption by holding up to them the slaughtered 
lamb, so the spirit and essence of all his gracious 
communications to our fallen race has been, to point 
out a the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin 
of the world." The sprinkled blood of the lamb 
saved Israel from the dreadful destruction which 
overwhelmed their enemies ; and thus are we "justi- 
fied through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 
whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through 
faith in his blood." The passover feast occurred but 
once in a complete period of time — once a year — so 
" Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." 
In all time there shall be no repetition of his sacri- 
fice. The passover was a feast for the whole nation, 
of which all were called to partake; so "Jesus, by 
the grace- of God, tasted death for every man." " He 
died for all, that we which live might not henceforth 
live unto ourselves, but unto him that loved us and 
gave himself for us." The paschal lamb was to be 



352 THU GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

eaten as food by those who kept the feast ; so Christ's 
flesh is meat indeed. He is "the living bread which 
came down from heaven, of which, if any man eat 
he shall live for ever." And this Passover was the 
first of the feasts ordained for Israel. Jesus is " the 
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." The 
first utterance of grace to sinful man held forth this 
glorious deliverer. The first altar we read of ex- 
hibited the slain lamb. The first deed of the new 
dispensation was the pointing out of " the Lamb of 
God" and his offering for the sins of the world. The 
first cry that reaches the sinner's heart is, "Behold 
the Lcmb!" His first experiences of real spiritual 
bliss lie in his partaking of Christ our Passover sac- 
rificed for us. And the first visions of the glory to 
be revealed in the heavenly sanctuary, disclose the 
same "Lamb that was slain," loved, adored, ruling, 
and reigning, with all the inhabitants of bliss looking 
on with worshipful thankfulness and delight. The 
Passover is the primary feast. 

The next in the list was the Feast of Unleavened 
Bread, which was a sort of continuation of the Pass- 
over, and followed right after it on the next day. In 
both Matthew and Mark, these two festivals are 
reckoned as one ; the Passover being regarded as the 
first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread. The one 
refers to what Christ does and is to the believer, and 
the other refers to what the true believer does in 
return. The one refers to our redemption by blood 
and our deliverance from condemnation ; the other 
to our repentance and consecration to a new life of 
obedience, separated from the leaven of unrighteous- 
ness. It is therefore plain why both were thus joined 
together as one. Redemption is nothing to us if it 



THE HOLY FESTIVALS. 353 

does not lead us to a purification of ourselves from 
the filthy ways and associations of the wicked. In 
vain do we eat of the paschal lamb or sprinkle its 
blood, if it be not immediately followed with the 
purging out of the old leaven to keep the feast of 
unleavened bread. Our salvation only begins in 
Christ's sufferings and death ; it then remains to be 
practically wrought out in a new life of consecration 
to God. The Passover must be succeeded by the 
feast of unleavened bread. Christ's sacrifice is to 
serve to put us in a position, and to furnish us with 
motives and opportunities to march forth out of the 
land of bondage to go to the holy land. A redeemed 
man must needs be a holy man. We can only effec- 
tually keep the Gospel feast by purging out the old 
leaven of malice and wickedness. 

Seven days was this feast of unleavened bread to 
be kept — a full period of time. We are to "serve 
God in righteousness and holiness all the days of our 
life." Our work is not done until the week of our 
stay in this world ends. We must be faithful until 
death. 

Joined with the Passover and the feast of un- 
leavened bread, was the additional service of present- 
ing before God the first sheaf of the barley-harvest. 
The Jew was not allowed to touch his crop until he 
had first gathered a sheaf, and presented it, along 
with the usual burnt and meat-offerings, as a gift to 
the Lord. " This," says Cumming, " was a beautiful 
institution, to teach the Israelites that it was not the 
soil, nor the rain-drops, nor the sunbeams, nor the 
dews, nor the skill of their agriculturalists, that they 
had to thank for their bounteous produce ; but that 
they must rise above the sower and reaper, and see 
30* x 



354 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

God, the giver of the golden harvest, and make his 
praise the key-note to their harvest-home." It was 
all this, but it had also a deeeper and more beautiful 
meaning. The broad field, sowed with good seed, 
with its golden ears ripening for the harvest, is 
Christ's own chosen figure of his kingdom upon 
earth, and the congregation of his believing children 
maturing for the garners of eternal life. In that field, 
the chief sheaf is Jesus Christ himself; for he was 
in all respects " made like unto his brethren. He is " the 
first fruits." He was gathered first, and received into 
the treasure-house of heaven. It was the Passover 
time when he came to perfect ripeness. It was during 
these solemnities that he was " cut off." And when 
the Spirit of God lifted him from the sepulchre, and 
the heavens opened to receive him, then did the 
waving of the sheaf of first fruits have its truest and 
highest fulfilment. Until this sheaf was thus offered 
along with the blood of atonement, there could be 
no harvest for us. " But now is Christ risen from 
the dead, and become the first fruits of them that 
slept." It is as our representative and forerunner 
that he has been thus lifted up before God. There 
is, therefore, a harvest for man — a gathering into the 
garner of heaven. " The field is the world ; the 
good seed are the children of the kingdom; the 
harvest is the end of the age." And when that 
"end" arrives, a voice shall come forth from the 
eternal temple, " Thrust in thy sickle, and reap ; for 
the time is come for thee to reap ; for the harvest of 
the earth is ripe." And then upon every Christian's 
grave shall be set up a sheaf, glad and glorious, 
beautiful and full of blessing, to be gathered, amid 
the shouts of angels, into the everlasting store-house 






THE HOLY FESTIVALS. 355 

of the Father. But, as yet, we are no further than 
the waving of the first fruits of barley-harvest — the 
lifting up of Christ as the pledge and pattern of our 
own resurrection. 

There was another harvest, and another festival 
service connected with its opening, fifty days later 
than the barley harvest. This was the wheat har- 
vest, at which was celebrated the Feast of Weeks, 
otherwise called Pentecost. The modern Jews make 
this festival celebrate the giving of the Law from 
Sinai ; though there is nothing in the Mosaic record 
to give it such a connection. It was properly a har- 
vest festival, at which the Jews were to render their 
thank-offerings for the bounties of the field, along 
with the first fruits of the same, previous to the com- 
mencement of the general reaping. They were re- 
quired to baptize all their blessings in the fountain 
of life before using them, that they might never 
forget whence they came, and to whose honor they 
were to be employed. There was a wide difference, 
however, between the offering of the first fruits of 
this, and those of the barley harvest. In the one 
case the sheaf was to be presented ; in the Feast of 
Weeks two loaves of bread, prepared with leaven, 
were to be waved before the Lord. The fact of there 
being two, and those made up with leaven, i. e. more 
or less mingled with corruption, precludes the 
typical application of this to Christ in his own 
proper person, as in the other case. He is one ; and 
nothing corrupting ever attached to him. The key 
to the true explanation, is found in a hint given in 
the twelfth of John. Christ there likens himself to 
"■a corn or grain of wheat" and his death to the 
planting of that grain, and the fruits of his death 



356 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

and passion to the products growing from that 
planted grain. Here then comes in a wheat harvest 
— the product of Christ's planting in, and rising 
from the grave — which is redemption let forth to 
mankind. But the fruit of wheat was to be pre- 
sented at this feast, not in its natural condition, but 
in the form of loaves made up with leaven. The 
reference, therefore, is plainly to redeeming grace, 
as wrought up into believers, in which state there is 
still much corruption mingled with it. The Passover 
shows us Christ crucified. The sheaf of first fruits 
shows us Christ raised from the dead and lifted up 
to heaven as our forerunner. And the Pentecostal 
feast, with its two leavened loaves, shows us Christ 
in the gracious influences of his Spirit wrought into 
the hearts and lives of those who constitute his 
earthly Church. 

This spiritual kneading took its highest and most 
active form on that memorable Pentecost, when the 
disciples a were all with one accord in one place," 
and the Holy Spirit came down upon them with gifts 
of mighty power. Three thousand souls were that 
day added to the Church. It was a glad and glorious 
day for Christianity. It was the first fruits of wheat 
harvest brought with joyous thanksgiving unto God. 
But it was only the first fruits — the earnest of a vast 
and plenteous harvest of the same kind ripening on 
the same fields. Thenceforward the world was to 
be filled with glad reapers gathering in the sheaves, 
and with laborers kneading the contents of those 
sheaves into loaves for God. Leaven there needs is 
in those loaves ; but, presented along with the blood 
of the chief of the flock and herd, they still become 
acceptable to Him who ordained the service. And 



THE HOLY FESTIVALS. 357 

this same reaping and kneading is to go on, until 
God shall say, " It is enough. The mystery is fin- 
ished. Come, ye priests, and feast upon the labors 
of your hands." 

There was a peculiar requirement connected with 
these laws for the wheat harvest, well worthy of 
special attention. The corners of the fields and the 
gleanings were to he left. God said, "When ye 
reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make 
clean riddance of the corner of the field when thou 
reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of 
the harvest ; thou shalt leave them unto the poor and 
the stranger." This was a "beautiful feature in these 
arrangements. It presents a good lesson, of which 
we ought never to lose sight. But it was also a type. 
Of what, I have not seen satisfactorily explained, 
though the application seems easy. If the wheat 
harvest refers to the gathering of men from sin to 
Christianity, and from subjects of Satan to subjects 
of grace, then the plain indication of this provision 
is, that the entire world, under this present dispen- 
sation, shall not be completely converted to God. I 
believe that the time will come, and that it is largely 
and fully predicted in the Scriptures, when " all 
shall know the Lord from the least unto the greatest" 
— when there will not be a single sinner left upon 
the earth. But, that time will not come until a new 
dispensation, with new instrumentalities, shall have 
been introduced. Some are looking for the inga- 
thering of the whole race to Christ and the Gospel, 
simply by the appliances of grace as we now have 
them. I find no authority for this in Scripture, or 
in reason. My learning of this subject is, that, with 
all that we can do, though the world should continue 



358 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

ten thousand years, there will still be outskirts and 
corners unreapt, and gleanings left all over the field, 
which must be gathered, if gathered at all, by other 
ministers and other hands, under another order of 
things. For eighteen hundred years has the Gospel 
now been operating in our world. Six hundred 
generations have successively passed under its ad- 
ministrations. Much of the mightiest energy and 
eloquence on the earth, in every generation, has 
been expended in its favor. And yet, in all this 
accumulation of centuries, there never has been a 
nation, or state, or city, or neighborhood, or village, 
under heaven, in which every individual of the popu- 
lation was a true member of Christ. There is not a 
spot on the surface of the world of which it ever 
could be said, "All the dwellers here are sons of God 
and heirs of heaven." Even in the hands of inspired 
apostles, whose very words were miracles, yea, even 
in the hands of the adorable Savior himself, the 
Gospel has not converted all to whom it was brought. 
And " the thing that hath been, is that which shall 
be." With all the efforts of the Church, there will 
still be unconverted and unholy people in the world 
— corners and gleanings which have not been turned 
to any good account — which strangers to us must 
gather, and which only another economy shall reach. 
Even down to the time when the Son of Man 
cometh, the world will be "as it was in the days of 
Noah:' 

Some will say that this presents a sad and gloomy 
prospect. I answer, no ; it consoles rather than dis- 
courages me. It keeps me from that despondency 
which would otherwise weigh upon my spirit. I 
look at the history and doings of the Church. I see 



THE HOLY FESTIVALS. 359 

faithful men everywhere laying themselves, body 
and soul, as living sacrifices on God's altar. And 
yet I find multitudes whom their efforts cannot move 
— their own brothers, friends and relatives continuing 
in unrighteousness, and dying impenitent. "What 
am I to think of this upon the supposition that the 
Gospel is omnipotently endowed over all antagonism 
of resistance and rebellion? Am I not driven to 
suspect that there has been some miscalculation of 
its power, or that, in part at least, it has been a 
failure, and hence not what it professes to be ? The 
inference seems harsh, bewildering, and vastly de- 
pressing to a confiding faith ; and yet, I know not 
how to escape it upon the common theory. But 
when, in God's pictures of futurity, he shows me 
corners unreapt and gleanings still ungathered after 
the present gatherers have done their work, the per- 
plexity is met, and the depressing doubt is removed. 
I see then that the present are not God's ultimate 
arrangements — that there is to be another economy 
and other agencies — and so I can labor on without 
discouragement at the limited success which attends 
upon Christian efforts. It is enough that the Gospel, 
as it now is, is able to gather up a people for the 
Lord, to be the kings and priests of " the world to 
come." In this I find motive and glory enough to 
work diligently, though there be corners which 
cannot be reached, and gleanings which cannot be 
gathered. 

The next in this list of festivals, was the Feast of 
Trumpets. This was held on the first day of the se- 
venth month of the ecclesiastical year, which was 
the same as the first month of the civil year. It was 
therefore a new-year festival, and at the same time 



360 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

the feast of introduction to the sabbatic month. Its 
chief peculiarity was, the continual sounding of 
trumpets from morning till evening. It was the 
grand type of the preaching of the Gospel. Christ 
having been sacrificed and raised again, as shown in 
the Passover and its connected services, and the or- 
ganization of grace having been completed, as pre- 
figured in the Feast of Weeks, the next great step 
was, to let the world hear of it, and to call the peo- 
ple to come and rejoice in it. And this call is what 
the Feast of Trumpets foreshadowed. In one re- 
spect, it began a new year; — it introduced a new 
dispensation. From the day of the Pentecostal out- 
pouring, there went forth a joyful sound — the voice 
of trumpets — in every direction, over hills and val- 
leys, mountains and seas. It was the glad peal of 
Gospel tidings, announcing the arrival of the holy 
month, and proclaiming rest to the weary world. It 
was not only at this feast that the trumpets were 
sounded. They were more or less used in every holy 
convocation. But it was only at this particular feast 
that they were heard in all their mightiness. Some- 
thing of the Gospel has been heard in every age. Its 
first notes were sounded in Eden, and their echo was 
heard through the centuries before the flood. At 
every great feast God has provided in the history of 
time, its sound was more or less mingled with the 
festivities. But, not until after the glorious season 
of Pentecost did its combined trumpet tones break 
forth upon the ears of men. Then first did it utter 
itself in that fulness which has startled empires, 
thrilled ages, and still holds millions of immortal 
minds trilling to its vibrations. 

The Feast of Trumpets was, to a great extent, a 



THE HOLY FESTIVALS. 361 

preliminary of the great Day of Atonement. We 
have already considered the peculiarities of this so- 
lemn day. Its leading thought is contained in its 
name — at-one-ment ; that is, agreement, reconcilia- 
tion, harmony, and peace with God. The Feast of 
Trumpets was a call to this at-one-ment. The G-ospel 
is an appeal to men to be reconciled to God. One 
of its great objects is to urge sinners to afflict their 
souls — to repent of their sins — to accept contritely 
of the forgiveness found in the blood of Jesus. 
"JSTow, then," says Paul, "we are ambassadors for 
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we 
pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 
Every Gospel minister is thus a trumpeter, to call 
men to the holy services of expiation. And if people 
will but listen, and be admonished, and come to the 
solemn feast, and afflict their souls with real peni- 
tence, God is at peace with them, their sins are re- 
membered no more, condemnation is gone, and the 
pledge of eternal life is theirs. 

My friends, through the whole day of our lives 
thus far, the silver trumpets have been sounding in 
our ears. And still they sound. From the battle- 
ments of the heavenly Jerusalem their clarion tidings 
of salvation ring o'er land and sea, saying, "Hear, 
careless sinner ; bestir thee ; rouse from thy stupor; 
come to the feast of pardon ; afflict thy haughty spi- 
rit, and bow down thy pride, and enter in those ever- 
lasting gates which now stand open to receive thee !" 
— "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." 

Immediately succeeding the great solemnity on the 
fifteenth day of the month, began another remark- 
able festival, called the Feast of Tabernacles. This 
was the most joyous of the Jewish annual feasts. Its 
31 



362 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

leading peculiarity was, that the people left their 
dwellings and made themselves tents, or temporary 
shelters, in which they remained seven days, rejoicing 
in the great things which God had done for them. 
It was to commemorate the forty years of tent life 
which their fathers led in the wilderness, and pointed, 
the same as that which it commemorated, to that 
period of the Christian's career which lies between 
his deliverance from bondage and his entrance into 
rest, — that is, between his reconciliation to God and 
his final inheritance of the promises. It celebrates 
the state of the believer while he yet remains in this 
present life. 

This world is not our dwelling place. "We are pil- 
grims and strangers here, tarrying for a little season 
in tents and booths, which we must soon vacate and 
leave to decay. " The earthly house of this taberna- 
cle" must "be dissolved." The places that know us 
now, shall soon know us no more. " Seven days" — 
a full period — were the people of Israel to remain in 
these temporary tabernacles. And thus shall we be 
at the inconvenience of a tent-life for the full period 
of our earthly stay. But it was only once in a year 
that Israel kept the Feast of Tabernacles. And so, 
when we once leave the flesh, we shall never return 
to it again. Our future bodies shall be glorified, 
celestial, spiritual bodies. " When the earthly house 
of this tabernacle shall be dissolved, we have a build- 
ing of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in 
the heavens." " In this tabernacle we do groan, be- 
ing burdened, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon 
with our house which is from heaven." Neverthe- 
less, if we be the people of God — if we have listened 
to the call of the trumpets, and kept the day of atone- 






THE HOLY FESTIVALS. 363 

ment by a godly affliction of soul for our sins, — even 
our stay in these poor shelters is a joyous and a 
blessed estate. It is a continuous feast upon forgive- 
ness and blessed hope. Christianity gives wings to 
the soul by which we may mount up as eagles. It 
introduces light into the darkest houses, and joy into 
the frailest and poorest tent. It gives a sacred buoy- 
ancy to the elastic steps of youth, and it is a rod and 
staff to the tottering feebleness of age. It adds a 
gilding to the saddest lot, and a lining of silver to 
the blackest clouds. It may turn us all into pilgrims, 
but pilgrims ransomed from the power of tyranny, 
and on our way to the land of rest. It may separate 
us from much that vain men think good and pre- 
cious, but it joins us to the assembly of those whose 
peace flows like a river, and whose songs shall never, 
never cease. 

It is also a precious thought connected with this 
subject, that when the Jews left their tents at the 
conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles, it was the 
Sabbath morning. This frail tent-life is after all to be 
rounded off with the calm quiet of a consecrated day 
that has no night, and to merge into a rest that is 
never more to end. 

The Sabbath is the most sacred of the days. It is 
as old as man. It has come down with him from the 
days of his innocence. It is a part of that moral 
code delivered on Sinai, and written on the granite 
rock to last as long as the world. It is a sweet re- 
membrancer of God and his great works of power 
and goodness. It tells of that joyous time 

When the radiant morn of creation broke, 
And the world in the smile of its God awoke 



864 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

It carries back our thoughts to the period when 
the whole -earth was sinless, and man in his inno- 
cence was blessed. It now celebrates the Savior's 
triumph over death — the bursting forth from Joseph's 
tomb of the germ of another creation brighter than 
the first — the bringing of life and immortality to 
light. It tells of rest that was, and of rest that is 
to be. I love this holy day — this solemn pause 
amid our earthiness — this breathing-space for man 
— this "halt of toil's exhausted caravan" — this weekly 
drop of heavenly sweetness in the bitter cup of life. 
I hail it as the channel and the prophecy of heaven's 
sublimest gifts to man. God makes this whole round 
of sacred festivals both begin and end with it. It 
was the first feast which God appointed for man, and 
it is to be kept when all other feasts have passed. 
It was given before sin had touched or soiled our 
noble nature, and it is to be the crown of that re- 
demption which removes those stains again. It was 
the inheritance of man in his innocence at the begin- 
ning ; and when we leave these earthly tabernacles, 
it shall meet us with a soothing calm on every breez-e, 
and a heavenly sweetness and quiet on every ray, 
transcending all that ever attached to it before. The 
Saturday of life's weary week brings after it an ever- 
lasting Sabbath in the skies. Whatever, then, ma) 
be the sorrows, disabilities, and weaknesses of earth r 
our consolation is, that " there remaineth a Sabbath f 07 
the people of God." 

There is an hour of peaceful rest, 

To mourning wanderers giv'n ; 
There is a joy for souls distressed, 
A balm for every wounded breast — 

; Tis found above — in heav'n. 



THE HOLY FESTIVALS. 365 

There is a soft, a downy bed, 

As fair as breath of ev'n ; 
A couch for weary mortals spread, 
Where they may rest the aching head, 

And find repose in heav'n. 



31* 



TWENTIETH LECTURE. 

THE SANCTUARY AND ITS FURNITURE. 

LEV. CHAP. XXIV. 

It has been said of the principal part of this chapter, 
that it gives " what may be called the private duties 
of the priest." But this is not all that it contains. 
It embraces provisions which do not refer to the 
priest at all. It lays commands directly upon the 
people, as well as upon the priest. It gives what 
would be much better described by the caption, 
Arrangements for the daily service of the Sanctuary. 
It speaks of the lamps, and how they were to be 
kept continually burning ; of the oil by which they 
were to be fed ; of the table of shew-bread, and how 
the loaves were to be made and exchanged ; and of 
the ordering of other things pertaining to the ordi- 
nary services of the sanctuary. 

Here, then, more than in any preceding portion 
of this book, are we brought to the consideration of 
sacred places. We have been looking at sacred 
things, sacred persons, sacred times ; but very little 
at sacred edifices or their furniture. Concerning 
these, not much is directly said in Leviticus, for the 
reason that everything pertaining to the Tabernacle 
was already so fully described in the preceding book. 
Still, as the regulations for the services which were 
never to cease in the sanctuary are here brought 
before us, if we are to speak at all of the sacred 

(366) 



THE SANCTUARY AND ITS FURNITURE. 367 

places in this connection, this is the proper point for 
it to be done. 

The Tabernacle of Moses, and the Temple of 
Solomon, (which was only a more substantial and 
permanent renewal of the same thing,) were as much 
typical " of good things to come," as the priests who 
officiated, or the services that were celebrated in 
them. They were a part of the same grand system, 
by which God, in those early times, shadowed forth 
his future dispensations. And we are the more easily 
led to entertain this belief, from the fact that every- 
thing pertaining to the form and furniture of these 
sacred structures was of divine origin. The model 
was exhibited to Moses from heaven. God said to 
him, " Thou shalt rear up the Tabernacle according 
to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the 
mount." Paul says that " Moses was admonished 
of God when he was about to make the Tabernacle." 
From all this we would naturally suppose that God 
meant to express something in the very form and 
architecture of this sacred building, as well as in the 
services which it was meant to accommodate. £Tay, 
when we come to an examination of the E"ew Testa- 
ment, in which the Old receives its explanation and 
fulfilment, we can have no room for cavil or doubt. 
The inspired apostle speaks of these "holy places 
made with hands," and declares them to have been 
" the 'patterns of things in the heavens" and " the figures 
of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not 
man." (Heb. 8 : 2 — 9 : 23, 24.) We do not, there- 
fore, dream when we undertake to read prophecies 
from the very beams of the temple, and even from 
the lamps, tables, and curtains of Israel's sacred 
tent. 



368 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

To conceive of the shape and appearance of the 
Tabernacle, you must measure out in your imagina- 
tion a level ground-plot, about one hundred and fifty 
feet long, and about seventy-five feet broad ; that is, 
an oblong square, inclosed with linen canvas fastened 
on stakes, and cords about ten feet in height. Every- 
thing relating to the Tabernacle was inside of this 
inclosed area, which was called the court of the Taber- 
nacle. The Tabernacle proper was a smaller in- 
closure, at the far end of this court, equally distant 
from the two sides of it. It was formed of boards, 
overlaid with gold, fifteen feet high, set up alongside 
of each other in sockets of silver, and held together 
above by golden bars passing through golden rings 
fastened to the boards on the outside. The roof of 
this inner inclosure was formed of heavy curtains of 
several thicknesses thrown over these rows of upright 
boards from side to side. This was the Tabernacle 
proper, which was divided again into two apartments 
by heavy curtains dropped from the roof. The inmost 
of these covered chambers, was the Holy of holies ; 
and the other, which was the ante-chamber to it, was 
the Sanctuary, otherwise called the Holy place. 

You thus observe three departments in this sacred 
structure : first, the inclosed uncovered space outside 
of the Tabernacle proper ; then, the Sanctuary, or 
first room of the covered part ; and third, that pecu- 
liarly sacred room in the deepest interior, called the 
Holy of holies. Nor could any one come to the most 
holy place, except by passing in through the court, 
and through the Sanctuary. In all this I see a sym- 
bolic history of redemption, and of the sinner's pro- 
gress from his state of condemnation and guilt to 



THE SANCTUARY AND ITS FURNITURE. 369 

forgiveness and peace in Christ, and to his final glory 
in the presence of his Lord. 

The first apartment was the ontside court. It was 
here that the Jews came to offer their sacrifices. 
They accordingly appeared there as sinners. There 
was the altar of burnt-offering, representing Christ 
crucified as he is held up to a sinful world. By peni- 
tently looking to the victim consuming upon that 
altar, the devout Jew received absolution ; and so the 
sinner by believing on Jesus as his Savior. Approach 
to that altar was an acknowledgment of sin. A little 
beyond the altar stood the sea of brass, or the brazen 
laver. This was between the altar and the door of 
the Sanctuary, and the priest, in passing into the 
Tabernacle, had always to wash here before he could 
proceed ; thus acknowledging defilement, and picto- 
rially showing that after justification comes sanctifi- 
cation, and that it is requisite for us to be both 
forgiven and cleansed before we can come into those 
higher manifestations found in the Tabernacle proper. 
The outside court, therefore, represents man in his 
native condition. It is our place or moral local so long 
as we are only beginning to believe on Christ and to 
cleanse ourselves from our filthy ways. 

The third and most interior apartment, represents 
the heavenly, post-resurrection, or glorified estate of 
man. There was the visible presence of the Lord. 
It was the hidden and guarded place into which 
vulgar eyes could not look, or unholy ones at all 
enter. There were the cherubic figures, and there 
did Jehovah commune with his people. There was 
the seat of mercy and the throne of glory. It was 
the grand picture of that celestial invisible world, 
into which Christ as our forerunner and High-priest 

Y 



370 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

lias entered, and which he holds in reserve for all his 
saints in the coming ages. 

But, between the outside court and this inmost 
chamber of the Tabernacle, was the Sanctuary, or 
that department with which the text is directly con- 
cerned, and of which I propose more particularly to 
treat. Its position shows that it refers to a condition 
of things this side -of the heavenly estate, and yet in 
advance of those rudimental experiences by which 
we come to be Christians. None but priests were 
allowed to enter it ; but it was properly the priests' 
apartment. I have heretofore explained who are 
God's true spiritual priests. Peter says to all real 
Christians, "Ye are a royal priesthood." He does not 
say that they shall be priests hereafter only, but that 
they are priests now, called and ordained "to show 
forth the praises of him who hath called them out of 
darkness into his marvellous light." Leaning upon 
Christ as our sin-offering, and submitting to be 
washed in the laver of regeneration, we attain to "a 
holy priesthood," and are advanced to the apartments 
of the priests. But this process, by which we become 
priests of God, is the same by which we become 
members of the Christian Church. The typical refer- 
ence of the Jewish Sanctuary may therefore be easily 
reached. It was a picture of the Christian Church 
estate, that is, of the immunities and relations in 
which we stand as the accepted followers and servants 
of Jesus while yet we remain in this world. 

"With this idea, then, let us take our station in the 
holy Sanctuary, and simply look around us upon the 
objects to which the text directs attention. 

The chapter before us speaks of Lamps. These were 
the burners upon the famous seven-armed candlestick 



THE SANCTUARY AND ITS FURNITURE. 371 

of gold, which God directed Moses to make for the 
holy Tahernacle. A full description of it is given in 
Exodus. To have an idea of this beautiful piece of 
workmanship, you must figure to yourselves a strong, 
massive, upright, tall, tapering shaft of gold, with a 
lamp upon the top. Upon this shaft you must ima- 
gine three arms branching out opposite each other 
on two sides, and curved upward to a level with the 
centre lamp, each having also a lamp on the top. 
You thus have a row of seven lamps, on seven 
different branches, and all supported by one central 
shaft or stem, to which each branch and lamp is 
attached as one piece. This fabric is what is called 
"the seven golden candlesticks." To feed these 
lamps, the children of Israel were commanded to 
bring pure oil, beaten from the olive, and the priest 
was to trim and replenish them night and morning 
perpetually that they might never cease to burn and 
shine. 

Now, whatever the Jews may have understood from 
this significant construction, we can be in no great 
doubt concerning its typical meaning. The Savior 
himself interpreted it to John, when he said, " The 
seven stars (or lights) which thou sawest in my right 
hand, are the seven angels (or ministers) of the seven 
churches : and the seven candlesticks are the seven 
churches." The central and all-supporting shaft, 
represented Christ; or rather, "the right hand" of 
Christ, on which everything Christian depends. As 
the seven candlesticks and their lamps were sus- 
tained by that massive golden stem, so Christ sustains 
every member, branch, institution and minister of 
his universal Church. It is he alone " that is able to 
keep us from falling." Take him away, and the 



372 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

precious faith and hope, which have "been the consola- 
tion of millions of poor and sorrowing and dying 
ones in various ages, at once drops. Take him away, 
and you take away the foundation upon which 
humanity has built its last hopes of safety and salva- 
tion. Take him away, and you destroy the golden 
pedestal upon which have been carved and wrought 
the beautiful flowers and ornaments of grace and 
goodness in the lives and doings of the saints. Take 
him away, and the great golden candlestick set up 
of G-od for earth's illumination falls with a crash, 
never to rise again. 

You will observe that the number of lamps and 
branches of this peculiar fabric was seven — the com- 
plete number — indicating that the whole Church was 
thereby represented. All rested upon the one central 
shaft ; indicating that there is no true Church, and no 
branch of the true Church, which does not repose in 
Christ as its great and only foundation and depend- 
ence. The whole fabric was of one piece. The parts 
were all solidly joined together as one continuous 
mass of solid gold. And so the holy Catholic Church 
is one. All the branches are compactly joined to- 
gether in one central support and stay, which is 
Christ Jesus. And yet, in that unity there was mul- 
tiplicity and diversity. There were seven branches, 
and these seven were not all exactly alike. Some 
were shorter and lighter, and some were longer and 
heavier; some looked towards the east, and some 
towards the west ; some seemed to diverge very far 
from the central shaft, others rose immediately by 
its sides. There was multiplicity and diversity, and 
yet perfect, unbroken, graceful unity. Beautiful 
picture of the Church of Jesus ! It is not confined 



THE SANCTUARY AND ITS FURNITURE. 373 

to one nation, one dispensation, one denomination, 
but takes in all who are really united to Christ, and 
built upon him as their only dependence, no matter 
how diverse or remote from each other they may be 
in other respects. The Savior never meant his Church 
to be hemmed in to one form of outward manifesta- 
tion, worship, government, or details of individual 
belief. The Gospel itself is four, with four separate 
names, and marked with four distinct individualities ; 
and yet these four are one. 

There are people who are greatly offended with 
Christendom for its many parties, divisions, and de- 
nominational distinctions. As well might they revile 
Creative Power for not making all the planets of one 
size, form, motion, and distance from the sun — or 
for making trees of more than one kind, limb and 
leaf — or for making birds to sing different songs and 
to wear different plumage — or for making flowers of 
more than one sort and fragrance — or for not making- 
one man's face just like his neighbor's ! Even God 
himself, in whom unity reaches its deepest intensity, 
has been let forth to us as Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost — three distinctions in adorable and eternal 
oneness. Why should we have difficulty, then, in 
finding the one great Church of the Redeemer, em- 
bracing many and differing branches and families ? 
It is what we ought to expect. It is accordant with 
all analogy. There may be distinction without sepa- 
ration, as there are many members in one body, 
living one and the same life. And so the Church has 
different outward forms and branches, but one in- 
dwelling spirit — variety of provisional organization, 
but one communion — "diversities of operations," 
but " one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and 
32 



374 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and 
in all." And with all the seeming discordances, and 
the many lines of individual and denominational 
distinction, which diversify Christendom, all who do 
inwardly believe and build upon the Lord Jesus 
Christ as their only hope, though " distinct as the 
billows," are still "one as the sea." 

The object of these candlesticks and lamps was, 
to furnish light to the sanctuary. The place had no 
windows, no other modes of illumination. The light 
which characterizes Christendom as such, is not from 
nature — not from human reason and philosophy — 
but from Christ and that pure Spirit which flowed 
and shone through him and his inspired ministers. 
Without Christ, and the light which comes from the 
golden candlesticks of his glory, and the pure olive 
oil of his Spirit, mankind are in darkness on all 
sacred things. The night of ignorance, sin and 
affliction is heavy upon them. Here and there a 
feeble and uncertain ray may peep into their gloomy 
habitation to keep up an idea of a better order of 
things, but not sufficient to dissipate the reigning 
and distressing obscurity. But in the sanctuary 
there is light, in which all the priests of God may 
walk in safety and in peace. The Sun of Right- 
eousness shines for them, if not in unveiled splendor, 
yet in strength enough to light the soul onward in 
the holy service of its Maker. " I am the light of 
the world," says Jesus; and all his people are "the 
children of light, and the children of day." When 
God sent his Son into the world, he said, "I the 
Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold 
thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a 
covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, 



THE SANCTUARY AND ITS FURNITURE. 375 

to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners 
from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out 
of the prison house." "With his advent, "the Day- 
star from on high visited us, to give light to them 
that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to 
guide our feet in the way of peace." In him and 
his words, we have the light of wisdom, such as the 
greatest of earth's sages never knew. In him and 
the heavy stroke that fell upon him on Calvary, we 
have the light of forgiveness of sins, purification, 
and hope, such as all the hecatombs, and prayers, 
and priestly services of the heathen never could im- 
part. In him and his lifting up in the holy sanctuary, 
we have the light of joy and peace in the midst of 
our toils, such as no earthly power could ever give. 
In him and the lamps he upholds, bright rays of the 
sunlight of another and better world are made to 
illumine the steps of mortals, and stars of glory rise 
even upon the deep darkness of the awful grave. 

Yes, " Light is come into the world!" From the 
watch-towers of ancient prophecy, Isaiah saw its 
rising beams from afar as they first fell on Moriah's 
golden minarets, and cried, "Arise; shine ; for thy 
light is come /" Full-orbed, it rose upon the land of 
Zabulon and Nepthalim by the way of the sea, and 
" the people which sat in darkness saw a great light." 
Jewish priests in their bigotry, and heathen rulers 
in their bloody tyranny, sought to quench it; but 
they did but trim its glorious flame and hasten its 
ascension. And to this day it shines in the minis- 
trations of God's people with a brightness that can- 
not be extinguished, lighting up the south with a 
brilliancy superior to its sunny skies, and kindling 
glory in the north superior to the play of the sunlight 



876 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

on its crystal mountains of unspotted ice. " Light is 
come into the world!" but many see it not, and feel 
not the mellow bliss that floats exhaustless in its 
beams. Sin hath blinded their eyes and barred 
their hearts against its joyous radiance. To behold 
it, man must come out from the cavernous dens of 
vice, and throw off the bandages of false philosophy, 
and lift up his eyes to the heavens. Evil-doers have 
no willingness for this. Because their deeds are 
evil, they love darkness rather than light, and come 
not to where the light shineth, and so abide in the 
gloom of sin and death. "But he that doeth truth 
cometh to the light," and thus is made a son of light, 
whose path shall ever shine more and more unto the 
perfect day. 

But the chapter before us speaks of Bread as well 
as lamps and light. Twelve loaves, baked of fine 
flour, arranged in piles on a table of gold, ever stood 
in the holy sanctuary. These loaves were to be re- 
newed every Sabbath, and were to be eaten by the 
priests in the holy place. This golden table, the 
same as the supporting shaft of the golden candle- 
sticks, represented Christ, and these unleavened 
loaves upon it, that pure bread from heaven which 
he giveth for the sustenance of them that are his. 

" Man liveth not by bread alone" There are wants 
and cravings in our nature which cannot be satisfied 
with the produce of the fields. There is in us a 
spiritual man, which must be fed and nourished with 
spiritual food, or it languishes and dies. "Man's 
life consisteth not in the abundance of the things 
which he possesseth." Dives, amid all his earthly 
plenty and sumptuous fare, became an everlasting 
starveling. We need higher supplies than this world 



THE SANCTUARY AND ITS FURNITURE. 377 

can furnish, and which can be found only in the holy 
sanctuary. Jesus furnishes those supplies. "lam 
the bread of life," says he; "he that cometh to me 
shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me 
shall never thirst. This is the bread which cometh 
down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and 
not die. I am the living bread which came down 
from heaven ; if any man eat of this bread, he shall 
live for ever." It has been touchingly remarked, 
that " every sigh of Jesus was a crumb of imperish- 
able bread to us." The breaking of his body on the 
cross has furnished the sublimest feast of time. 
There a they that hunger and thirst after righteous- 
ness" are forever filled. There wisdom hath fur- 
nished her table, saying, "Come, eat- of my bread, 
and drink of the wine which I have mingled." Here 
love hath poured out all her lavish fulness for the 
famishing children of men. Here the great King 
throws open his banquet halls, and says, " Come, for 
all things are now ready." And whosoever will but 
consent to be made a priest of God, shall find the 
sacred loaves laid up for him in the holy place, upon 
which he may be satisfied for ever. 

There were to be twelve loaves ever on the golden 
table — a loaf for every name upon the jewelled 
breastplate of the priest. And they were ample 
loaves. One omer of manna was enough to serve a 
man for a day ; but each of these loaves contained 
two omers. The bounties provided for our souls in 
Christ Jesus are superabundant — far more than 
enough for all that will ever come to partake. Yes, 
poor, perishing prodigal, in your Father's house 
there is "enough and to spare" — plenty to satisfy 
you, and welcome besides, if you will but cast away 
32* 



378 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

the husks of sensuality and sin, and come home 
from your wicked wanderings. 

Neither did these loaves ever wax old or become 
stale. Every Sabbath they were carefully renewed, 
and thus kept always fresh and sweet. The bread 
which Jesus gives never moulds, never spoils, and 
never loses its relish on the tongues of his priests. 
It is just as fresh and delightful to the aged saint on 
his dying day, as when first he tasted of it in the 
days of his youth. It is just as pure and good to 
us now, as it was to the apostles when they believed 
on him and were satisfied. Every Sabbath day, 
rightly spent, brightens it up again with ever 
renewed beauty and preciousness. It is not that 
"meat that perish eth;" but "meat which endureth 
unto everlasting life." 

And blessed is he that knoweth of this bread, and 
cometh to partake of it ! His mouth shall be satis- 
fied with good things, so that his youth is renewed 
like the eagle's. And at the end of days, like Daniel 
in the school of Melzar, his countenance shall be 
fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which 
eat of Nebuchadnezzar's meat. 

— Lord, evermore give us this bread." — 

Having thus looked at the beautiful provisions for 
light and sustenance which characterized the holy 
sanctuary, there is yet a thought or two respecting 
its relation to the holy of holies, to which I will 
direct your attention. 

I have said, that the holy of holies was meant to 
represent heaven, or that invisible and glorious state 
into which Christ has entered as our priest and fore- 
runner, and into which all his saints shall enter in 



THE SANCTUABY.AND ITS FURNITURE. 379 

time to come. Now, the way into this most holy 
place was through the Sanctuary. There was no other 
way of entering it. May not this be meant to signify 
that the way to heaven is through the Church ? I 
know that there has been much unrighteous abuse 
of the doctrine, that, outside of the Church there is 
no salvation. It has been the weapon of bigotry, 
the parent of fanaticism, the shield of harsh uncha- 
ritableness ; and when limited to any one form or 
outward order of the Church-state, it is a huge false- 
hood. But still, there is a solemn truth underlying 
it. "What is the Church ? It is the community of 
those who believe in Christ, and submit themselves 
to follow and obey him according to the best light 
within their reach. And unless a man has so far 
advanced in spiritual things as to be rightfully rated 
as a member and citizen of this spiritual common- 
wealth, it would be a contradiction of Christ and all 
his Gospel to hold out to him the hope of Christian 
salvation. A man must have faith, and submit to 
serve Christ, and thus attain to the Christian Church 
state, or he never shall be where Jesus is. Christ 
says, "I am the door." "He that entereth not by 
the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some 
other way, the same is a thief and a robber." "He 
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; and he 
that believeth not shall be damned." We need no 
plainer words than these ; and they are the words of 
him who openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth 
and no man openeth. The way to heaven is through 
the Church ; not this or that particular denomination ; 
not the company of those who stickle for these or 
those outward forms and ceremonies; but that uni- 
versal brotherhood of such as take Christ as their 



380 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

Savior and only hope, and honestly act np to their 
best light and convictions as to what he requires of 
us. And if there is any way of salvation outside of 
this holy Catholic Church, I cannot find it revealed 
in the Scriptures, and fearful is the risk of him who 
ventures to trust in it. 

But, connected with this is another and more sunny 
thought. If the Sanctuary is the way to heaven, those 
who are in that way are very near heaven. Every 
true member of the Church has but a veil between 
him and the glorious presence of God and angels. I 
say every true member of the Church ; for not all are 
Israel who are of Israel. There was a Nadab and 
Abihu among the sons of Aaron. There was a Judas 
Iscariot among the twelve disciples. There was a 
Simon Magus among the baptized at Samaria. And 
the man of sin has never failed from the visible tem- 
ple. There never yet was an assembly of the saints, 
but " Satan came also among them." There is there- 
fore a church-membership which is only nominal and 
outward, possessing nothing of that living power 
which inwardly connects with Christ and avails for 
salvation. "We may receive upon us the waters of 
Baptism, and the solemn vows of discipleship, and 
take and eat of the sacred elements of the Savior's 
broken body and shed blood, and yet be in the gall 
of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity. "I have 
seen a branch," says an eloquent preacher, "tied to 
a bleeding tree for the purpose of being engrafted 
into its wounded body, that both might be one ; yet, 
no incorporation followed ; there was no living union. 
Spring came singing, and with her fingers opened 
all the buds ; and summer came, with her dewy nights 
and sunny days, and brought out all the flowers ; and 



THE SANCTUARY AND ITS FURNITURE. 381 

brown autumn came, to shake the trees, and reap 
the fields, and with dances and mirth to hold harvest- 
home ; but that unhappy branch bore no fruit, nor 
flower, nor leaf. Just held on by dead clay and rot- 
ting cords, it stuck to the living tree — a withered 
and unsightly thing. And so, alas, it is with many ; 
having a name to live, they are dead. They have no 
faith ; they want that bond of living union which 
alone can make the graft a part of that on which it 
is grafted — the sinner a real member of the Savior." 
And, of course, so long as this inward life-principle 
does not circulate in both, let the man be in what 
visible Church he may, he is not reached by saving 
power. He must be vitally joined to Christ. He 
must partake of his life, drink in his Spirit, and put 
forth in his strength, or be none of his. But, if 
our Christianity be real, our faith sincere, our exer- 
cises those of the honest heart, our endeavors such 
as our profession implies, then are we already more 
than half-way to heaven. A single curtain is all that 
hangs between us and everlasting glory. As the 
Sanctuary was the ante-chamber to that in which 
Jehovah dwelt between the cherubim, so is the Church 
to those mansions of glory where the pure in heart 
shall see God. The poet has said, 

Heaven lies around us in our infancy ; 

but heaven lies around us in our manhood too, pro- 
vided that manhood has attained to citizenship in 
the community of saints. With heart and spirit set 
on Christ and good, and earnestly obedient to all the 
known will of our Lord, we walk in the genial light 
of golden lamps, and eat of sacred bread from golden 
tables, waiting only for the lifting of the curtain, 



382 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

when we shall be at home with angels and with God, 
in the sublime and everlasting dwelling-place of our 
enthroned Redeemer. 

glorious rest ! blest abode ! 
We shall be near and like our God ! 
And flesh and sense no more control 
The sacred pleasures of the soul ! 

We come now, in course, to another episode in 
this book — another accident (so to speak) in the pro- 
gress of the arrangement of these holy laws, akin to 
that narrated in the tenth chapter. I will not detain 
you with it, though it might profitably be made the 
subject of detailed examination. It was a sort of 
co-operation of providence with direct revelation to 
confirm the authority of the Giver of these laws, and 
to draw an outward fence, as Bonar says, around the 
pavilion of the great King. " The son of an Israel- 
itish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, and a 
man of Israel, strove together in the camp ; and the 
Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the 
Lord, and cursed." This seems to have occurred 
whilst Moses was within the tabernacle conversing 
with God. It reminds us of that description of the 
heavenly city given in the last of Revelation where 
the good come into blessed communication with God, 
and have a right to the tree of life, whilst " without 
are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and 
murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and 
maketh a lie." And sad is the reflection, that, while 
Almighty God is engaged in merciful dealings with 
men, some are quarrelling, striving, and blaspheming. 
But verily, they shall have their reward. " The Lord 
spake unto Moses, saying, Bring forth him that 



THE SANCTUARY AND ITS FURNITURE. 383 

hath cursed without the camp, and let all that heard 
him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the 
congregation stone him." Sin in Nadab and Abihu 
brought with it a fearful end, and so did also the 
profaneness of Shelomith's son. God will not allow 
his name to be abused, any more than his house to 
be desecrated with unholy fire. " He that blasphe- 
meth the name of tbe Lord, shall surely be put to 
death, and all the congregation shall stone him;" 
was the solemn injunction of Jehovah to Israel. And 
it is written, " the children of Israel did as the Lord 
commanded." 

And now, standing, as it were, by the bruised and 
mangled corpse of the fallen blasphemer, let me 
suggest to your thoughts those solemn words of the 
apostle — "He that despised Moses' law, died with- 
out mercy under two or three witnesses : of how much 
sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought 
worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, 
and hath counted the blood of the covenant, where- 
with he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath 
done despite unto the Spirit of grace ? For we know 
him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, 
I will recompense, saith the Lord. 

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the 
living God !" 



TWENTY-FIRST LECTURE. 

THF SABBATIC YEAR AND THE JUBILEE. 

LEV. CHAP. XXV. 

I have had repeated occasion to remark, in the 
course of these lectures, upon the number seven. It 
is singular how this number is inwrought with nearly 
everything sacred. The Scriptures throughout rest 
upon it with peculiar emphasis. It was on the 
seventh day that God ceased his work of creation 
and hallowed a rest, which has made the computa- 
tion of time by septenaries of days the common and 
universal method from that day until now. Seven 
days were given to Eoah to gather in the tenants of 
the ark; and with him came over the flood seven 
persons, and sevens of all the clean animals. On 
the seventh month the ark rested on the earth again, 
and on the seventh day the dove was sent out. Seven 
years of plenty and seven of famine were sent upon 
Egypt, as the Lord signified through Joseph. Seven 
priests, with seven trumpets, were to encompass the 
walls of Jericho seven successive days, and the seventh 
day it fell into the hands of Israel. Seven days were 
the Jews to celebrate sundry of their feasts ; seven 
days were their priests to be in course of consecra- 
tion ; seven days were their unclean to be in clean- 
sing ; and seven victims were required in many of 
their sacrifices. Seven days did Job's friends sit 
with him, and seven bullocks were to be offered for 

(384) 



THE SABBATIC YEAR AND JUBILEE. 385 

their sins. Seven years was Solomon's temple in 
building ; seven days was the feast of its dedication ; 
and seventy years was Israel captive at Babylon. 
Seven years was Nebuchadnezzar degraded as a 
brute, and seventy weeks were determined until 
Messiah should be cut off. Enoch, whom God trans- 
lated, and the first man ever exempted from death, 
was the seventh from Adam ; and, according to Luke, 
Jesus was the seventy-seventh. Seven hours did the 
Savior hang upon the cross ; seven times did he speak 
while hanging there ; seven times did he show him- 
self after his resurrection ; and seven days after his 
ascension was the Holy Ghost poured out. Seventy 
was the number of disciples whom he first commis- 
sioned. Seven petitions are contained in the prayer 
which he taught his followers. Seven lamps were in 
the Tabernacle. Seven Churches we read of in the 
Apocalypse ; and seven seals, seven vials, seven 
angels, seven Spirits of God, and the finishing of the 
mystery at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. 
And one of the most prominent and remarkable 
features of the Levitical code was that Sabbatic 
system which pervaded it, making the seventh day, 
the seventh month, the seventh year, and an addi- 
tional year every seven times seven years, holy 
periods and seasons, to be observed with peculiar 
solemnity and special services. It is these year- 
sabbaths, and God's ordinances concerning them, 
which we are now to consider. And may the Holy 
Spirit direct our meditations, and bring us to a 
proper and profitable understanding of his will and 
purposes ! 

The first of these Jewish year-sabbaths, as pre- 
sented in the chapter before us, was that which 
33 z 



386 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

occurred every seventh year. From the time Israel 
became settled in the land of promise, they were to 
count seven years, and that seventh year was to be 
a holy year of rest, especially for the land. It was 
a year during which all agricultural pursuits and 
processes were to be interrupted, and the grounds 
to be left lying fallow. The whole country was that 
year to be turned into a public common, free to all, 
the proprietor of his estate not only ceasing to culti- 
vate it, but having no more right to its spontaneous 
products than any one else. But the people were 
not, therefore, necessarily required to be idle. " They 
could fish, hunt, take care of their bees and flocks, 
repair their buildings and furniture, manufacture 
clothes, and carry on their usual traffic" (Bush in 
loc). There was nothing to hinder free social inter- 
course. It was only the land that was to rest, and 
man from tilling it. It was to " be a Sabbath of rest 
unto the land" in which there was to be no sowing, 
no reaping, and no gathering of what the vine might 
produce without dressing. This was the leading 
characteristic of the Sabbatic year, although it doubt- 
less embraced other, religious, economical, civil, and 
political interests and ends. 

The second and most famous of these Jewish year- 
sabbaths was that which came in at the end of the 
seventh septennial rest, and occurred every fiftieth 
year. This was called the great year — the year of 
Jubilee. It was an institution of the same general 
Sabbatic character with the seventh day, seventh 
month, and seventh year, except that it occurred 
more seldom, and was attended with joys, blessings, 
and concomitants of good beyond all other sacred 
seasons. It was also a Sabbath of rest for the land, 



THE SABBATIC YEAR AND JUBILEE. 387 

in which, the people were neither to sow, nor prune, 
nor gather. It was a year of redemption through 
which no bonds could hold, no contracts bind, no 
prisons remain locked, and no possessions or estates 
continue out of the hands of the original owners. 
When that year came, all debtors were released, all 
slaves set at liberty, all captives discharged, all exiles 
brought home, all alienated property restored to 
those to whom God had given it, and all absent 
ones once more returned to the bosoms of their 
families and friends. It was one of those gracious 
provisions scattered over God's ancient economy, 
showing the hand and presence of Him who is full 
of goodness and tender mercies. It was an arrange- 
ment which served to equalize and balance society 
in that uncultivated age, and to prevent many of the 
causes which so often operate disastrously to a State. 
Long unrighted wrongs, or depressions too numerous 
and long continued, are the generators of the temper 
and passions which give birth to revolutions. Society 
needs balances and counterpoises against monopolies 
of wealth and the extremities of ill fortune. And 
in these, as well as in other respects, a very benefi- 
cent and gracious end was subserved by this ancient 
institute of the Jubilee. It not only contributed to 
rest the land from the exhaustion of incessant tillage, 
and to restore the unfortunate ; but it was a sort of 
"restitution of all things," by which a fresh and 
happy impulse was given to the whole current of 
affairs. It was a grand year of refreshment and 
recuperation for a new and more contented life. As 
long as the Jewish people faithfully kept these 
Sabbatic laws, they continued to be a prosperous 
people and a peaceful State ; but as they came to 



388 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

disregard them, they were torn and spoiled by intes- 
tine strifes, social disorders, and all varieties of 
political trouble. 

There is a feature of these year-sabbaths which 
would, perhaps, particularly arrest the attention of 
the political economist, and which is of no less inte- 
rest to the Christian. It was a bold and hazardous 
undertaking for a legislator to propose laws which 
would interrupt the supplies upon which the people 
subsisted. Yet, this is what was done in these Sab- 
batic regulations. The ordinary Sabbatic year com- 
menced in the harvest month ; but there was to be 
no seeding during that year, and consequently no 
harvest until the third succeeding year. The year 
of Jubilee always begun with the conclusion of the 
ordinary Sabbatic year, thus bringing together two 
successive years in which there was neither reaping 
nor sowing. There would thus be three, if not four, 
years of complete interruption in the ordinary supplies 
from the fields. Now, it was no small matter, by 
mere arbitrary legislation, to strike out of existence 
three successive harvests every fifty years. The mere 
partial failure of one of our crops, sends stagnation 
and distress into all departments of society. Three 
successive failures would fill the whole country with 
famine, wretchedness, and starvation. What was to 
prevent a like result from these long and total inter- 
missions in the agriculture of the Jews ? So important 
an inquiry was not overlooked by the framer of these 
Laws. The Lord directed Moses to say to Israel, 
"And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh 
year, seeing we shall not sow, nor gather in our in- 
crease ? Then will I command my blessing upon you 
in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three 



THE SABBATIC YEAR AND JUBILEE. 889 

years" The people were required to rely upon a 
miracle for subsistence, and the Lawgiver pledged a 
septennial miracle in their favor. The fruits of two 
or three years were to be forthcoming from the earth 
on the year preceding each Sabbatic year. 

Now, from this, I join with others in deducing an 
important evidence of the truth of the Mosaic nar- 
rative and the divinity of these laws. No legislator 
would ever have proposed, and no people ever would 
have received, a law which thus required a miracle, 
i. e., the direct interference of the Power which 
governs the springs of nature and guides the course 
of providence, in order to subsist in its observance, 
without a clear conviction that the law itself came 
from Him who alone is able to perform what it pro- 
mised. There must therefore have been entire con- 
fidence on the part of Moses that it was God who 
spoke to him, and that what was promised was really 
a pledge from Deity certain to be fulfilled. And a 
similar confidence must have governed in those who 
accepted the law from his hands, while a few sep- 
tenaries of years were to settle, by actual demonstra- 
tion, whether their confidence was well-founded or 
false. It was a test so direct, so palpable, so certain 
to expose the falsehood in case there was falsehood, 
so unlimited as to time, so removed beyond the reach 
of man to affect the result, and repeated on so grand 
a scale every seven years, that I cannot see how 
Moses could have ventured it without certain know- 
ledge that he was speaking by authority of God, or 
how the people could ever afterwards have regarded 
him as a divine prophet if it had failed or miscarried. 
And as Moses certainly did give this law and the 
pledge connected with it; and as the Jewish people 
33* 



390 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

did receive it, and for centuries obeyed and tested it, 
and still continued ever to honor and reverence him 
as the prince of all God's prophets ; I cannot see to 
what other conclusion we are to come, but that his 
communications to Israel proved to be authentic, and 
that he was just that man of God and legate of 
heaven which he profes-sed, claimed, and was believed 
to be. 

I do not give this as the only, nor yet as one of the 
principal evidences of the Divine authority of these 
laws. It is but one line in the great volume of testi- 
mony upon that subject. Indeed, this whole series 
of discourses, to me has been a gradual and continuous 
development of an argument for the inspiration of 
Moses, which I know not how any man can logically 
set aside. Though our examinations have been 
somewhat cursory, every chapter, to me, has been 
luminous with what never could have originated with 
the mere ingenuity and forethought of man. The 
declaration with which I began these comments, that 
the contents of this " third book of Moses" entitled 
it to be called "the Gospel according to Leviticus," 
seems to me to have been signally sustained. We 
have found all its peculiar inculcations radiating from 
one great centre which has no model but in Christ, 
and his works and offices of mercy for mankind. 
And to this we have found them to fit and conform 
in a minuteness of detail, in a profuseness and mag- 
nificence of illustration, in a perfection of accuracy, 
and in a logical and historical correctness, which has 
astonished and amazed me. They seem more like 
allegories framed after the occurrence of the facts, 
than like types instituted fifteen hundred years in 
advance. The question, therefore, arises, How came 



THE SABBATIC YEAR AND JUBILEE. 391 

Moses thus to anticipate Christ and the redemption 
that is in him ? How came he to know anything about 
a character so unique, or about those miraculous facts 
and wonderful results of the Savior's great and singu- 
lar history, so as to give such luminous pictures of 
what God was thus to achieve in the far off ages ? 
Where did he get the idea from which he drew those 
vivid and living illustrations of the great economy 
of grace in Christ Jesus ? Whence could he have 
had all this accuracy of information concerning what 
was to be, but from Him who knew the end of all 
things from the beginning ? It does seem to me, that 
the denial that Moses acted in these matters under 
the aid and direction of God, makes of him a greater 
prodigy, and a more wonderful exception to the ex- 
perience of mankind, than the inspiration which we 
claim for him. There was miracle on the one side 
or other; and I submit it to every candid man, 
whether it was not most likely on that side to which 
the great majority of thinkers, and the best and most 
competent judges in the world, have uniformly 
assigned it. And if Moses was inspired, then the 
Gospel is true, for we find that Gospel set forth in 
what Moses commanded and wrote. 

But, it is of the typical significance of these year- 
sabbaths, that I desire more particularly to speak. 
Thus far, everything in this book has been full of 
interest. A magnificent panorama has been passing 
before us for the last five months. Our way has been 
through a long gallery of Divine pictures of Christ 
and his work of mercy for man. We have been 
tracing some of the steps and stairways by which the 
world has come up to the sublime heights of spiritual 
wisdom and hope eventually laid open in the New 



392 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

Testament. All the great facts, appliances, and 
stages of the redeeming process, have passed in review 
before lis. It only remains for us now to take a 
glance at its ultimate results and final consummation, 
and the entire scheme, in all its grand magnificence, 
will have been exhibited. And to this end serves 
the Sabbatic system which so singularly characterized 
the Hebrew ritual. 

I do not suppose that these sabbatic regulations 
referred severally to separate and distinct things. 
The seventh day, the seventh month, the seventh 
year, and the year of jubilee, as I take them, all ex- 
press the same great thought, and are related to each 
other in signification as the different sections of a 
telescope. They fold into each other. The one is 
only a repetition of the other on a larger scale. And 
they all range in the same line to give a focus for 
gazing the further into the depths and minuter details 
of one and the same scene. We have sabbaths of 
days, and sabbaths of months, and sabbaths of years, 
and septenaries of years, all multiplied in each other 
with augmenting interest, to indicate the approach 
of some one great seventh of time when all God's 
gracious dealings with man shall come to their cul- 
mination, and to point the eye of hope to some one 
grand ultimate Sabbath, in which the weary world 
shall repose from its long turmoil and all its inhabi- 
tants keep Jubilee. 

The word " Jubilee" is of doubtful origin and signi- 
fication. Some derive it from a verb which means 
to recall, restore, bring bach; which would very appro- 
priately designate an arrangement which recalled 
the absent, restored the captive, and brought back 
alienated estates. Some trace it to Jubal, the inventor 



of musical instruments, and suppose that this year 
was named after him from its being a year of mirth 
and joy, of which music is a common attendant and 
expression. Our English word jovial may perhaps be 
traceable to this origin. Others think it a word 
meant to denote the extraordinary sounding of 
trumpets with which this particular year was always 
introduced, some making it refer to the kind of in- 
struments used, and others, to the particular kind of 
note produced. But, after all, it may have been a 
name invented for the occasion, and intended to carry 
its meaning in its sound, or to get it from the nature 
of the period which it was thenceforward to designate. 
It is a word which, if not in sound, yet in its associa- 
tions, connects with the sublimest joys, ushered in 
with thrilling and triumphant proclamations. " Like 
the striking of the clock from the turret of some 
cathedral, announcing that the season of labor for 
the day is closed," says Bonar, " so sounded the notes 
of the silver trumpet from the sanctuary, announcing 
that the great year of redemption and rest had come 
— the year of release and restoration throughout all 
Israel." 

Some interpret this year of Jubilee as a picture of 
the present Gospel dispensation, and consider that 
we are now living in this remarkable year. And 
there is doubtless an accommodational sense in 
which this is true. The Gospel is a trump of glad- 
ness, proclaiming liberty to the captives, and the 
opening of the prison-doors to them that are bound, 
and announcing the moral rest of forgiveness and 
peace in Christ Jesus. But I cannot find in this the 
direct and highest significance of the Jubilee. The 
year of Jubilee did not begin till the close of the day 



394 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

of atonement. It was only after the High-priest had 
finished all the services of that solemn day that the 
silver trumpet sounded for the Jubilee. This day of 
atonement only began with the Savior's sufferings 
and death. It is still in progress. Our great High- 
priest is still within the veil sprinkling the atoning 
blood. Sinners without are still afflicting their souls 
and waiting for his reappearance to pronounce upon 
them the life-giving benediction. Bonds, trials, 
heavy sorrows, and sore privations still cleave to the 
saints. Even the holiest Christians have not yet 
come to the fulness of their rest. The very martyrs, 
who laid down their lives for the testimony of Jesus, 
are represented as waiting and crying, " Lord, how 
long!" "With all our peace in Christ Jesus, our 
portion as yet is connected with dust and tears. The 
proper Jubilee, therefore, is yet to come. Our priest 
must first gone forth from the Holy of holies, whither 
he has gone, and close the reconciliation day, and 
then only will our joyous rest rightly begin. Jesus 
must first appear the second time, before our final 
release and salvation shall be complete. 

Many a time have we heard the sounding trumpets 
of Gospel tidings. Long and loud has the summons 
to repentance and reconciliation been ringing in the 
ears of a drowsy world. Many have listened, be- 
lieved, and accepted, and thereby experienced the 
glad earnest of the appointed Jubilee ; but there is 
another trumpet — "the great trumpet" — "the trump 
of God" — which yet remains to be sounded. It is a 
trumpet which shall never be heard but once in all 
the revolutions of the ages ; — a trumpet whose 
clangor shall thrill worlds, and startle up the very 
patriarchs from their long-lost graves, and transmute 



THE SABBATIC YEAR AND JUBILEE. 395 

time itself into eternity; — a trumpet which shall be 
blown throughout all the earth the moment our 
High-priest shall have appeared again. "For the 
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of 
God; and the dead in Christ shall rise." "For the 
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised 
incorruptible, and we shall be changed." And that 
trumpet is the true trumpet of the true Jubilee. 
When it sounds, shall the great Sabbath of the ages 
begin. Let us, then, survey some of the sublime 
features of that coming time. 

I. First of all, it is to be a Sabbath — a consecrated 
and holy rest. The year of Jubilee was the intensest 
and sublimest of the Sabbatic periods. The Sabbath 
is the jewel of days. It is the marked and hallowed 
seventh, in which God saw creation finished, and 
the great Maker sat down complacently to view the 
admirable products of his wisdom, love and power 
— blessed type of a still more blessed rest, when he 
shall sit down to view redemption finished, the years 
brought to their perfect consummation, and the life 
of the world in its full and peaceful bloom. The 
Jubilee is therefore to be the crown of dispensations, 
and the ultimate glory of the ages, when the Son of 
God shall rest from the long work of the new crea- 
tion, and sit down with his saints to enjoy it for ever 
and ever. Wiped off then shall be the sweat of the 
toiling brow, and quiet and useless the ploughshare 
which has so long been bruising and tearing the face 
of the world. The perfection of the Sabbaths shall 
then throw its dewy mantle over us for ever. 

Rivers of gladness water all the earth, 
And clothe all climes with beauty. 



396 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

II. In the next place, it is to be the period of resti- 
tution. The year of Jubilee was a year when all 
property which had been sold or alienated came 
back to its original owners. Farms and houses that 
the Jew, through misfortune, had to part with, then 
became his again. If any one had been reduced to 
servitude, his freedom returned to him. The land 
itself received release, and rested in the undisturbed 
repose which it enjoyed before the fall. Everything 
seemed to go back to the happy condition in which 
God had originally arranged things. 

Man, in this present world, is a dispossessed pro- 
prietor. God gave him possessions and prerogatives 
which have been wrested from him. God made him 
but a little lower than the angels, crowned him with 
glory and honor, and set him over the works of His 
hands. All creatures were given to him for his ser- 
vice, and he was to " have dominion over every living 
thing that moveth upon the earth." But, where is 
all that glory and dominion now ! How has the gold 
faded and the power waned ! How much are we 
now at the mercy of what was meant to serve and 
obey us ! Gone, are our once glorious estates. Gone, 
the high freedom which once encompassed man. 
Gone, all the sublime dignity which once crowned 
him. But we shall not always remain in this poverty 
and disgrace. Those old estates have not gone from 
us for ever. When the great joyous trump of Jubilee 
shall sound, the homesteads of our fathers shall 
return to us again, nor strangers more traverse those 
patrimonial halls. With blanching cheek shall the 
vile intruder then shrink back, and let go his avari- 
cious grasp upon what can be no longer his. Hell 
then shall cease to vex and rifle those who have taken 



THE SABBATIC YEAR AND JUBILEE. 39T 

refuge in the Lord. Our long down- trodden excel- 
lence shall then rise from the dust, radiant with the 
splendors in which it came at first from the great 
Creator's hand. The crown that has fallen shall 
then again take its proper place upon the brow for 
which it was made. The mansions which we have 
had to exchange for these dissolving tabernacles, 
shall then be once more our own. And there shall 
be beauty for ashes, and the oil of praise for the 
spirit of heaviness ; for " in that day shall the Lord 
of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of 
beauty, unto the residue of his people." 

III. Again, it shall be a time of release for all that 
are oppressed, imprisoned or bound. The year of 
Jubilee struck off the bonds of every Jewish captive, 
and threw open the prison doors to all who had lost 
their liberty. We are all prisoners now. Though 
the chains of sin be broken, the chains of flesh and 
remaining corruption still confine us and abridge our 
freedom. Even those pious ones who have passed 
away from earth, are still held in the power of death. 
Their souls may be at rest, but their bodies are still 
shut up in the pit of the grave. There still is 
groaning and " waiting for the adoption, to wit, the 
redemption of our body." But when the great 
trump of Jubilee shall sound, these groanings shall 
cease, and these fetters all dissolve. Rocky vaults 
and sepulchres, sealed for ages, shall then suddenly 
burst open, and the doors of death fall down from 
their rusty hinges, and broad daylight break into the 
darkest tombs, and all G-od's buried saints shake off 
their damp and mouldy prison garbs, to bid farewell 
for ever to the dingy cells that now clasp their holy 
forms. The expecting patriarchs from their ancient 
34 



5y» THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

tombs shall hear the thrilling call and come ; and 
holy martyrs, whose sacred dust the winds and 
waters scattered o'er the earth ; and " slaughtered 
saints, whese bones lie scattered on the Alpine 
mountains cold;" and poor-house paupers, sleeping 
in Christ in potter's fields ; and faithful missionaries, 
whose hearts the savages have eaten or cast unto the 
dogs ; and sea-lost loved ones, whom shipwreck left 
to perish on the barren rocks or melt in the still 
depths of the unfathomed sea — all, all, all, shall 
then find their sorry fate reversed, and the power of 
the oppressor gone for ever. 

And equally blessed shall be the arrival of that 
day to those bound sufferers in Christ who shall still 
be found living in the flesh. The poor consumptive, 
gradually fading with decay; the trembling para- 
lytic, bound to his sick-room chair; the rheumatic 
cripple, whose pains have lifted his bones out of their 
sockets ; and the old bed-ridden saint, already half- 
way in his grave ; and the bright youth, wild and 
parched with intolerable fever ; and the maimed sol- 
dier of the cross, hobbling sorrowfully on his crutches ; 
and the benighted blind one, feeling his sad way 
through a world of light and beauty in perfect dark- 
ness ; and the chained maniac of the mad-house, con- 
suming with rage ; and the poor driveling idiot, whom 
not one flash of reason has ever lit; and the sad, 
broken-backed daughter, pining in obscurity, cut 
off from all earthly hope ; and the aged grandmo- 
ther, bowed together with a weight of years that 
have carried away all the friends of her youth ; — 
these, and ten thousand more that suffer in the Lord, 
each and all, at that high bugle-note, shall feel the 
sudden thrill of immortal deliverance, and waste, 



THE SABBATIC YEAR AND JUBILEE. 399 

and sigh, and suffer, and feel their sad privations, no 
more ; for the year of Jubilee has come ! 

IV. Another feature of that happy time is, that it 
shall be a time of rega^hering for the scattered house- 
hold. Jehovah's word to Israel was, " The fiftieth 
year shall be a jubilee unto you, ye shall return every 
man to his family." — It is not possible in this world 
for families to keep together. A thousand necessi- 
ties are ever pressing upon us to scatter us out from 
our homes. The common wants of life, to say no- 
thing of aims and enterprizes for good, honor, or 
distinction, operate to drive asunder the most ten- 
derly attached of households. And if we should even 
succeed in overcoming dividing forces of this kind, 
there are others which do their work in a way which 
we cannot hinder. Death comes, and, one by one, 
the whole circle is mowed down, and sleep in sepa- 
rate graves, mostly far apart. One lies in the country 
church-yard, one in the city cemetery — one in the 
far-off fatherland, and one in some remote corner of 
the wide new world. One sleeps in the sunny south, 
another in the dark and frozen north. One has found 
his bed on the gory field of battle, and another in 
the deep wide sea. A sister reposes in the sweet 
family lot in the flowery city of the dead, and a bro- 
ther in the waste wilderness, no one knoweth where. 
There is no complete household upon earth — no 
family among men — that has not some absent one 
to mourn. 

There is no flock, however watched and tended, 

But one dead lamb is there ; 
There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 

But hath one vacant chair. 



400 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

But there cometh a clay when all the households of 
the virtuous and good shall be complete. The year 
of Jubilee shall bring back the absent one. For 
when the Son of man shall come, "he shall send his 
angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they 
shall gather together his elect from the four winds, 
from the one end of heaven to the other." !N"ot one 
shall be overlooked or forgotten. That faithful son 
that fills the unknown stranger's grave ; that brother 
who sleeps in a foreign land, or mingles his ashes 
with the golden sands of the Sacramento ; that mo- 
ther whose lonely pillow is in the deep cold ground; 
that cherub child that slumbers in its little grassy 
bed in the far-off hamlet ; that loved one whose small 
gifts and tokens of affection are all that remains of 
him in this world ; the lost original of that fading 
daguerreotype so often washed with your warm tears ; 
— all these shall hear the trump of Jubilee, and come 
back to their happy, happy homes. 

Then shall love freely flow, 

Pure as life's river ; — 
Then shall sweet friendship glow, 

Changeless for ever ; 
And bliss each heart shall fill ; 

And joys celestial thrill ; 
And fears of parting chill 

Never — no, never! 



V". But, there is still another feature of this blessed 
time to come, to which I will refer. The sounding 
of that trump shall be the summons to a sacred feast 
upon the stores laid up by the industry of preceding 
years. Though no sowing or gathering was to be 
done in the year of Jubilee, Israel was to have 
plenty. The bountiful hand of Heaven was to supply 



THE SABBATIC YEAR AND JUBILEE. 401 

them. Years going "before were to furnish ahundance 
for all the period of rest. The Sabhath of the land 
was to be meat for them. Now is our harvest-time. 
The fields are waving with beautiful golden products 
which God means that we shall gather and store for 
our Jubilee. Industry and toil are required. We 
must thrust in the sickle, and gather the blessed 
sheaves, and lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. 
It will not do to play the sluggard while that ripe 
vintage is inviting us to gather. We must work 
while we may, and lay up while it is within reach. 
When once the trumpet sounds it will be too late to 
begin to lay up for the year of rest. Now is the ac- 
cepted time ; now is the day of salvation. Neglecting 
this bright, rich, plenteous summer period, we must 
starve when the faithful are feasting on abundance. 
But if diligent now, we shall have an ample portion. 
No Christian effort will ever be lost. Every good 
deed here done, every gift of charity, every prayer 
for Zion, every self-denial for Jesus, every cup of 
cold water given to a thirsty disciple, every word of 
serious admonition whispered in a sinner's ear, shall 
contribute to swell the accumulations for a coming 
festival sublime as heaven. Twenty, forty, sixty 
years have some been toiling in the exhaustless field. 
Oft have they been faint and weary. Heavy upon 
them has been the heat and burden of the day. 
Hunger and nakedness, peril and bitter soul-sickness 
have often oppressed them. But, the weight of their 
long service, their hardships and pains, have all the 
while been laying up for them " a far more exceed- 
ing and eternal weight of glory." And, oh, what 
abundant treasures have some of them garnered in 
heaven for the everlasting year of their rest. Blessed 
34* 2a 



402 THE GOSPEL IN LEVITICUS. 

storages of good ! How will the soul leap when the 
trump shall sound to come and feast upon them for 
ever. Then shall "the good wine" come which has 
been so long delayed. Then shall our Samuel bring 
us into the celestial parlors which his own hand has 
fitted up for us, and seat us in the chiefest place, and 
set before us what has been kept for us, and cause 
us to feast upon "fat things full of marrow," with 
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the saints of God, 
without interruption and without end. 

Hail, then, to the blessed year of jubilee ! Hail to 
the bright year of God's redeemed — year of release 
for them that sigh — year of the exile's return to his 
home — year of rest to them that toil — year of finished 
salvation to the lost ! "We bid thee welcome ! Yea, 
welcome, thou coronal of time ! "Welcome, thou 
opener of the prison doors ! Welcome, restorer of 
our beloved dead ! Welcome, health of the nations 
and liberation to the bound ! The weary world waits 
impatient for thy coming ! Millions of saints stir in 
their mossy graves impatient for thy dawn ! Break, 
sacred morning, and lighten to their birth the glories 
of the new creation ! Let time's slow charioteers 
drive on without delay, and hasten to the blessed con- 
summation ! Behold ! " He that testifieth these 
things saith, Surely I come quickly : Amen. Even 
so, come, Lord Jesus !" 

Friends and brethren, I have done with this " third 
book of Moses, called Leviticus." For three times 
seven successive Sabbath ...evenings we have been 
traversing the Tabernacle courts^ together, inquiring 
into its " meats, and drinks, and .divers washings, and 
carnal ordinances." With the ]STew Testament in our 
hands, we have endeavored to get a glimpse of what 



THE SABBATIC YEAR AND JUBILEE. 403 

was meant by these services of the ancient fathers. 
~Not in vain, I hope, has been our expenditure of 
time and study. Luminously have we seen redemp- 
tion (-mining through, them all. Step by step have 
we beheld the scheme of grace unfolded in the living 
pictures of the ancient ritual, until to-night we stand 
upon the radiant summit of this mount of love and 
light. And now, as I take leave of the subject, I 
would fain wish that all the happy things, shadowed 
in this book, may be possessed by all who have 
listened to these comments upon them. But what 
can avail my wishing or your hearing, if these glad 
tidings be not embraced, believed, pondered, acted 
upon, and made the light and guide of life ? In this 
solemn hour, then, with your eyes upon the sub- 
limites of the everlasting jubilee, and your hearts 
moved and softened with the glad visions of what is 
then to be realized, permit me, in one last closing 
sentence, to ask and entreat each one of you, now, 
before leaving this house, to let your honest heart- 
felt vows go up to God, from this forward, to live for 
Jesus and for heaven. God seal the sacred covenant 
and make it firm unto everlasting life ! Amen, and 
Amen. 



THE END. 




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